Terror suspect from U.P. held in Mumbai airport

The Uttar Pradesh police have arrested an Azamgarh resident on charges of plotting terror attacks in the country and being the ‘main ideologue’ of a group of radicalised youth. The suspect, identified as Abu Zaid, was arrested by a team of the Anti-Terror Squad at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport in Mumbai on Saturday night. He was returning from Saudi Arabia, the ATS said on Sunday. The ATS has accused Zaid, who was living in Riyadh on a work permit, of trying to inspire, induce and mobilise members in India for a terror module. His name cropped up, an ATS spokesperson said, during investigation of four youths who were arrested in an operation from different parts of the country in April. Describing Zaid as the “self-radicalised main ideologue” of the group, ADG Law and Order Anand Kumar said he would attract the youth and members towards “IS and other Islamist groups” mainly through social media and a WhatsApp group. Police alleged that members of the group would communicate with each other on the Internet through an application and were preparing for a terror attack. ‘Solid evidence’ of Zaid’s culpability in organising members for terror activities was “found from the mobiles of the arrested persons,” the ATS spokesperson said. Mr. Kumar said from mobile records of the previously arrested four persons it can be ascertained that he was “exchanging messages related to IS, Islamic radical thinking and anti-national activities.” However, alleged activities Zaid was involved in and information about the youth “he radicalised” would be clear after questioning, Mr. Kumar said. In April, the UP ATS had registered an FIR in the case against the four persons under Sections 120 B, 121A, 153, 123 and 122B of the IPC and Section 18 of the UA(P)A. A lookout notice had been then issued against Zaid, who hails from Ghambirpur in Azamgarh, after his name came to light during investigation, police said. In a joint operation of nine police teams in April, the four youths accused of plotting terror attacks were arrested from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and Maharashtra. The youths were allegedly building a new organisation and back then police said that they had no affiliation with any extremist outfit.