Ahmedabad: The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Gujarat Police have arrested five persons including a woman from Porbandar with alleged links to proscribed international terror outfit the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP) an affiliate of the Islamic State.
Gujarat Police said on Saturday that the arrests were made as part of a special operation and raids were still underway.
Addressing a news conference here, Director General of Police (DGP) Gujarat Vikas Sahay said that the officials of the ATS of the Gujarat Police had received information that three of the terrorists linked to the ISKP were planning to leave India via Gujarat.
“It is a banned terrorist organisation, Islamic State – Khorasan Province. Three terrorists affiliated with this organisation were planning to leave from Porbandar via the waterway,” the DGP said.
“This information was received by the ATS of Gujarat Police. The information was properly processed and further developed,” the Police official said.
“Acting on the tip-off, a team of Gujarat ATS early morning of June 9, set up a watch at Porbandar railway station and identified the three youth and held them and questioned them,” the DGP said. “The three arrested from Porbandar were identified as Ubaid Nasir Mir, Hanan Hayat Shawl, and Muhammad Hajim Shah, all natives of Srinagar.”
He said that based on questioning the detained trio, two more people also linked to the ISK were held.
They have been identified as Zubair Ahmed Munshi from Srinagar and one woman, Sumerabanu Mohammad Hanif Malek, who is a resident of Surat city.
Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi said that five suspected terrorists were arrested and congratulated the Gujarat Police ATS and Surat Crime Branch for the arrests.
“Gujarat Police have been thwarting terror plots and it will continue to do so in the coming days. Gujarat Police will take forward the zero tolerance policy of the Centre as put forth by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Five suspected persons have been arrested, one is from Surat,” Sanghvi said.
Terming it a big success for Gujarat Police, he said that the ATS would inform about its probe findings after the investigation concludes.
“The accused were interrogated throughout Friday night in connection with their terrorist activities,” the DGP said. “It was ascertained that they were preparing to flee outside India to join the ISKP and were in contact with each other for the past year. They were allegedly being given messages from their handler Abu Hamza.”
According to ATS sources, a special team of the ATS had been active for the past few days for special operations in Porbandar and surrounding areas.