8 Al Qaeda suspects including doctor nabbed in Jharkhand, weapons & explosives seized

Delhi police, ATS conducts raids in Rajasthan, arrests 6, all from Jharkhand, receiving training in arms and explosives

Jamshedpur: Joint raids by national agencies, Jharkhand ATS and Delhi Police across 22 locations in Jharkhand led to arrest of eight Al Qaeda suspects including a doctor here on Thursday, officals said.

Inspector General of Police (IG) and Jharkhand Police spokesperson AV Homkar said, “With inputs provided by national agencies, a joint team of Jharkhand Anti-Terrorist Squad, Special Task Force (STF), Ranchi Police, and Delhi Police conducted raids at 22 different locations in Hazaribagh, Lohardaga, and Ranchi.”

The IG further added that a total of eight people have been detained in the raids. “We have recovered several weapons, laptops, mobile phones, and Al Qaeda documents from the detainees,” added Homkar.

Homkar also mentioned that their team is verifying the documents and interrogating all those detained.

“Based on the information provided by the detainees, more raids are being conducted by the joint teams at various locations,” added the IG.

A senior police officer involved in the raids said that automatic and semi-automatic weapons, including carbines and AK-47s, have been recovered from the possession of the arrested individuals. A few hand grenades have also been recovered.

According to Delhi Police, one of those arrested is a doctor, identified as Dr. Ishtiyaq. However, IG Homkar declined to comment on the arrest or detention of a doctor.

The Delhi Police claimed that the arrested doctor was allegedly leading the Jharkhand chapter of Al Qaeda and was responsible for recruiting cadres for the terrorist organization.

The Delhi Police also claimed that Ishtiyaq was allegedly aspiring to declare ‘khilafat’ and execute major terrorist activities and blasts across the country.

Raids were also conducted in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, where six people were arrested for alleged connections with Al Qaeda. Shockingly, all the individuals arrested in Rajasthan are natives of  Jharkhand.

According to Rajasthan Police, the six individuals arrested in the Bhiwadi area of the state were staying there and receiving weapons training.

The raids come a week after Delhi Police arrested a suspected Al Qaeda member, Rizwan Ali, a member of the Pune module of the terrorist organization. He was arrested in the Daryaganj area of the national capital.

Jharkhand among top terrorists’ breeding hub in country 

 The arrest of eight suspected Al Qaeda operatives by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) on Thursday is not the first instance of terrorist suspects being apprehended in the state. Over the years, the state has frequently come under the spotlight for its connections to various terrorist activities across the country.

Since its formation, Jharkhand has served as a safe haven and breeding ground for terrorist outfits, particularly for members of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) and the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Over the past two decades, police teams from Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra, and several investigative agencies have visited the state to conduct inquiries or make arrests.

Connections to SIMI and IM activities have been discovered in three major cities—Ranchi, Jamshedpur, and Dhanbad. Links to terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), IM, and SIMI have also been exposed in smaller towns and remote areas of the state in the past.

Jharkhand’s vulnerability as a potential terrorist breeding center or hideout was first exposed in 2002. Two Pakistani terrorists, Zahid and Salim, who were involved in the Kolkata American Centre attack the same year, were gunned down in Khirgao, Hazaribagh.

In 2013, Jharkhand police arrested a Kashmiri militant in his early twenties who had taken shelter at a distant relative’s residence in Hazaribagh’s Palwal area. This arrest averted a major terrorist attack in Delhi.

In June 2011, Ranchi-based software engineer Danish Riyaz, alleged to be a SIMI leader, was arrested in Vadodara, Gujarat by the NIA and Gujarat police. Riyaz was allegedly involved in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts and other terror-related activities.

Another Ranchi-born youth, Faizrul Rahman, was arrested by Kanpur police from an internet café in Kanpur. Rahman was alleged to be a Pakistani intelligence operative working for the ISI.

In 2007, Rajasthan police arrested a suspect from Jamtara district in connection with the Ajmer bomb blast. During the investigation, it was revealed that mobile SIM cards used by terrorists prior to the blast were issued from Jamtara.

The arrest of Abu Faizal, a SIMI member, by Madhya Pradesh police in 2011 revealed that Jamshedpur was being used as a breeding ground by terrorist groups. Faizal had purchased a house in Jamshedpur, which was used to hold secret meetings of the banned outfit.

In 2019, Jharkhand ATS, acting on inputs from the NIA, arrested one MD Kallimuddin Muzhiri near Tatanagar railway station.