INDORE: The MP anti-terrorism squad (ATS) on Thursday said they had foiled a ‘lone-wolf attack’ on security personnel’s families by arresting a 34-year-old man for alleged links with Indian Mujahideen (IM) in Khandwa.
The suspect, Faizan Sheikh, has been booked under UAPA, ATS IG Ashish Sharma said. “He planned a lone-wolf attack to target security forces and their families.He wanted to establish himself as a prominent figure like IM’s Yasin Bhatkal and Abu Faisal of SIMI,” the IG said.
“A pistol, five bullets and four mobile phones were seized from him, along with literature on ISIS, IM and other terrorist organizations, and membership forms of the banned SIMI,” IG Sharma said.
Faizan is being interrogated in police custody, and ATS is trying to identify his associates, he added. He was in contact with illegal arms dealers to procure pistols and ammunition, Sharma said.
Police confiscated digital devices containing videos and photos related to terrorist organizations including ISIS, IM, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Toiba, the IG said, adding that Faizan was found to be in touch with SIMI members.
ATS arrested 55 in recent years
Faizan was using his social media accounts to propagate IM and ISIS ideologies and used to share videos of Mujahideen training camps in Pakistan, speeches by Jaish leaders, posts related to the Kandahar hijack and statements by Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (an al-Qaida affiliated terror outfit in J&K), said the IG.
Police issued a press statement to say that ATS has arrested 55 suspects in recent years – 22 from Popular Front of India (PFI), 16 from Hizb-ut-Tahrir, six each from ISIS / Al-Sufa and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, four Maoists, and one from IM.
Accused used social media to share ‘ideals’ of of ISIS & IM: IG
Faizan was using his social media accounts to propagate IM and ISIS ideologies and used to share videos of Mujahideen training camps in Pakistan, speeches by Jaish leaders, posts related to the Kandahar hijack and statements by Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (an al-Qaida affiliated terror outfit in J&K), said the IG.
Police issued a press statement to say that ATS has arrested 55 suspects in recent years — 22 from Popular Front of India (PFI), 16 from Hizb-ut-Tahrir, six each from ISIS / Al-Sufa and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, four Maoists, and one from IM.