Delhi Police arrested an Islamic State (IS) terrorist, wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), after a massive search operation on Monday in connection with the Pune ISIS module case.
The terrorist, identified as Shahnawaz, has been by Delhi Police’s Special Cell, just days after NIA announced a reward of Rs 3 lakh on him. Two other suspected terrorists – Arshad Warsi and Mohammad Rizwan – have also been arrested in follow-up action.
The anti-terror agency had launched a massive search operation to nab three ISIS terrorists at large in Delhi, one of them being Shahnawaz Safiuzzama Alam alias Abdullah. The three terrorists were reportedly identified in the ‘Pune ISIS module case’.
The other two terrorists have been identified as Rizwan Abdul Haji Ali, and Abdulla Faiyaz Shaikh.
After the questioning of Shahnawaz, some more suspected terrorists of ISIS will be tracked down, sources said. Some terrorists who have been in contact with Shahnawaz have also been taken into custody by the Special Cell.
Shahnawaz, an engineer by profession, is a resident of Delhi and was arrested by the Pune Police on July 18 after he was caught stealing a two-wheeler. After escaping from Pune police custody, Shahnawaz was living in Delhi by setting up a hideout.
Shanawaz has been found to have some chemical substance on him, which has been seized, an official said.
Shahanawaz Alam ‘Key Player’ In Terror Plan
The NIA, in August, arrested one Shamil Saquib Nachan in the Pune ISIS module case and claimed it had seized incriminating material from his residence in Thane district and that the material exposed his conspiracy and of the other accused, including Shahnawaz, to spread terror and cause disruption in the country.
As per the agency, Nachan had been working with five other arrested accused, along with some other suspects, as part of a bigger conspiracy to trigger violence across the country on a scale larger than the 26/11 attacks, by fabricating and setting off improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The NIA had said the accused were all members of the ISIS sleeper module.
As per preliminary probe, Nachan and the other accused had assembled IEDs in a house in Kondhwa in Pune where they had also organised and participated in a bomb (IED) assembly and training workshop last year.
They had plans to wage a war against the Government of India in furtherance of the ISIS agenda to spread terror and violence with the goal of establishing an Islamic State in the country, the NIA had said.
Sources had then told News18 that Shahanawaz Alam was the key player in the terror plan. “All old terror outfits that were almost dead in terms of activities have been recycled again. They have done everything cleverly and saved themselves from the agencies. It is good that they were caught, otherwise their plans were deadly,” the source said.
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