Suspected Al-Qaeda Operative Planning To Radicalise Rohingyas Arrested In Delhi

A 27-year-old man of Bangladeshi-origin al-Qaeda operative, who had come to India to allegedly train and radicalise Rohingyas for fighting the Myanmarese Army, has been arrested from east Delhi, the police said today.

Initially, the British national tried to mislead police by claiming that his real name was Shumon Haq. He even showed them a fake voter ID card issued from Kishanganj in Bihar but subsequently, he was identified as Samiun Rahman.

The Delhi Polices Special Cell had been working to gain information about Rahman since July. The sleuths had learnt that a man named Raju Bhai of the al-Qaeda terror group is trying to set up base in Delhi to carry out terrorist activities here.

Yesterday, the police learnt that Raju Bhai would come to Vikas Marg, Shakarpur near ITO, to meet one of the probable jihadist recruits, he said. He was nabbed and later the police learnt his real name. A pistol of 9 mm calibre, laptop, mobile phones, USD 2,000, 13,000 in Bangladeshi currency and Indian rupees were recovered from him.

He had fought in Syria as a member of Jabhat Al Nusra, an affiliate of al-Qaeda in Syria. In 2013, he was influenced by the ideology of al-Qaeda and joined it. He obtained a three-week training in their camp in Syria and fought there till 2014.

While he was in Syria, their group came to know about the "atrocities" on Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar. With his Bangladeshi background, he was selected to raise a fighter group there. In 2014, he arrived in Bangladesh to radicalise youth to join al-Qaeda with the help of a person named Yasina, a resident of Bangladesh and an old al-Qaeda cadre, the police official said.

He visited Dhaka and other places and radicalised dozens of young people in Bangladesh for their entry into Myanmar from Chittagong. However, he was arrested in Bangladesh for terrorist activities in 2014.

In July, he entered India with the objective of setting up base in Mizoram and Manipur to fight for Rohingya Muslims, raise funds and incite youths, Kushwah said.

During this period, he stayed at various madrasas in Kishanganj (Bihar), Hazari Bagh (Jharkhand), NCR and other places.

It is believed that he was in touch with a number of youths to incite them to join al-Qaeda, Kushwah said. He visited Delhi frequently for this cause. (PTI)