Delhi Police bust Pak-organised terror module linked to gangster Dawood, arrest 6 terrorists

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 14

The Delhi Police's Special Cell has busted “a Pakistan-organised terror module linked to Dawood Ibrahim” with the arrest of six terrorists, officials said on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference, Neeraj Thakur, Special CP (Special Cell), said the module was linked to gangster Dawood Ibrahim, who is accused of carrying out the 1993 bombs blasts in Mumbai and is believed to be living in Pakistan.

The official said the two of the arrested terrorists were radicalised and ideologically motivated and had received training in Pakistan for 15 days. One of them, he said, was tasked to identify potential targets of attacks during the upcoming festival season, as “Navarati and Ram Leela gatherings were their targets”.

Those arrested persons have been identified as Jaan Mohammad Shaikh (47) from Maharashtra, Osama (22) from Delhi, Moolchand (47) from Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareilly, Zeeshan Qamar (28) from Allahabad, Mohd Abu Bakar (23) from Behraich and Mohd Amir Javed (31) from Lucknow, and they were taken into custody during raids at various places in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi and Rajasthan, the officials said.

“Out of the six who were arrested, two (Osama and Zeeshan) were trained in Pakistan and they entered India just this year. We formed a special team when we received information about these individuals. First arrest was made in Maharashtra, then two from Delhi, following that we tied up with UP ATS to arrest three from there,” Thakur said. 

The police have also recovered arms, ammunition and explosives, including high-quality Italian pistols, that were supposed to be used for targeted killings from their possession.

“Two among them had gone to Muscat and from there they went to Pakistan. They were trained in explosives. They were operating as a sleeper cell. It appears that there was close coordination with individuals from across the border. Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Anis Ibrahim was part of the team. The funding was being done through Hawala network. They were scouting cities with an aim to implement attacks during the festival season,” Thakur said.

The officer said the arrested terrorists have stated that there were 14-15 Bangla-speaking persons, who had traveled with them to Pakistan. They might also have been taken to a similar training to Pakistan, he said, adding that the terror module was being handled from across the border.

The terrorists had formed 2 teams, one of them being coordinated by Anees, the officer said, while claiming that the responsibility of this group was to get the arms and ammunition into India from across the border and conceal it here for opportune time to launch attack and the other team was tasked to facilitate funding through Hawala.

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