New revelations have surfaced after the arrest of two members of terror outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH) Saddam Sheikh, 38, and Rizwan Khan, 23, by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), an auxiliary unit of al-Qaeda, following inputs from intel agencies, an official said.
Special Director General of Police, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar, said that Saddam who is a native of Gonda, worked as a driver in a company named NTC in Bengaluru.
“During social media monitoring and electronic surveillance, it has surfaced that Saddam Sheikh was self-radicalised and in touch with militants in Pakistan through IMO, which is a proprietary audio/video calling and instant messaging software service,” Kumar added.
Saddam also said that terrorists like Osama bin Laden, Zakir Musa, Riyaz Naikoo, Naved Jatt, Sameer Tiger were his idols and in his phone, photos and videos related to these terrorists have also been recovered, he said.
The other accused Rizwan Khan, a native of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir, was spreading terrorist propaganda on social media platforms. He was currently working as a security guard in Bihar.
Rizwan wanted to avenge the death of terrorist Sameer Tiger while Saddam was looking for a bomb expert.
Saddam and Rizwan, arrested from UP, had planned to create a large army of terrorists.
Many shocking documents and pictures were found from Saddam, who lived in Gonda 18 years ago, and Rizwan, who lived in different parts of UP from Jammu and Kashmir.
While Saddam was looking for a trainer to learn bomb making, Rizwan wanted to avenge the death of terrorist Sameer Tiger who was killed in the valley.
UP ATS has found many posters and pictures from Saddam's mobile. He had sent these pictures to many WhatsApp groups and Muslim youths.
Saddam, influenced by Ansar Ghazwatul Hind and Al Qaeda, used to post radical content on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram so that someone could contact him who could train him to use weapons and make bombs.
For this, he had posted pictures of many terrorists including hand grenade, flag of terrorist organization Al Badr 313 on social media.
Saddam wanted to form an army with those Muslims, who feel that they have been tortured in India, he wanted to implement Sharia law on them so that India can be turned into an Islamic nation.
Saddam was in contact with Pakistani, Kashmiri militants through different mediums.
After the arrest of Kashmiri youth Rizwan, a picture of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Aqib Khan and Sameer Tiger, killed in the year 2018, has been found from his mobile. Rizwan has also written miss you brother in the picture of both.
Sameer Tiger was an A++ category terrorist and after the encounter of Burhan Wani, he became the poster boy of terrorists in the valley.
In the interrogation of UP ATS, it has been revealed that Rizwan wanted to avenge the death of terrorists Sameer Tiger and Aqib Khan, for this he wanted to create his own organization.
For this, he was living in UP for the purpose of recruiting Muslim youths for terrorist organizations. He told that he was “waiting for his turn, Insha Allah," to join the path of Jihad.
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