The Anti-Terror Squad of Gujarat Police today arrested four terrorists at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in the city. According to the police, all the terrorists are residents of Sri Lanka and are associated with the Islamic State. The ATS has started investigating the case following the arrests. The ATS is currently interrogating the terrorists at a secret location to determine their purpose for arriving in Ahmedabad. Efforts are ongoing to uncover their intentions.
Addresing the media Gujarat DGP Vikash Sahay said, “Information was received that 4 people, namely, Mohammad Nusrat, Mohammad Nufran, Mohammad Faris and Mohammad Razdin. These 4 people are Sri Lankan nationals and are active members of the banned terror outfit Islamic State. All four of them are completely radicalised by the ISIS ideology and they are going to come to India to commit a terror attack. As per the information, they were going to reach Ahmedabad on May 18 or 19 either by railway or flight. Teams were formed and strategy was created based on the information received…Passenger lists of trains and flights coming from the south were analyzed.”
“All 4 of them were travelling from Chennai to Ahmedabad on the same PNR no. through an Indigo flight no. 6E 848. As they were from Sri Lanka, so with the help of sister agencies verification was done in Colombo too for confirmation,” he added.
Initial investigations revealed that they traveled from Sri Lanka to Ahmedabad via Chennai. The Gujarat ATS arrested them before they could reach their intended target. It has also been found that these terrorists were awaiting orders from their handlers in Pakistan. Weapons were also expected to be delivered to them separately. The ATS has recovered encrypted chats from the terrorists’ phones. The arrest of the four ISIS terrorists comes at a time when Surat Police is already investigating the Maulvi Sohail Abubakar case.