Al Qaeda suspect held in Cuttack

Bhubaneswar: A suspected terrorist with Al Qaeda links was arrested today from Jagatpur area of Cuttack in Odisha, a senior police official said.

The arrest of Abdul Rahman was made after a raid by a joint team of Delhi Police and Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissionerate Police at his house in Paschimakachha village in Jagatpur area in the wee hours, Commissioner of Police R P Sharma told reporters in Bhubaneshwar.

The joint operation was conducted following arrival of a team from the special cell of Delhi Police here yesterday for nabbing Rahman who was suspected to have international links in countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Dubai, Sharma said.

As per preliminary information, the accused has been keeping contacts with terrorist groups and recruiting people for 'Al Qaeda in Indian Sub-Continent' (AQIS), the police commissioner said.

Rahman is also suspected to have links with people hailing from Indian sub-continent and living in London, Sharma said. The accused is believed to have links in several states like Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. A number of materials including a tab, mobile phone and passport were seized from the house of Rahman, aged around 37 years, and a native of Paschimakachha village, Sharma said.

The accused, who is married and has three children, ran a Madrasa at Tangi area near Cuttack. Further interrogation of the accused would be done by the special cell of Delhi Police.

The police commissioner said that Rahman's brother Tahir Ali had been arrested in 2001 in connection with the terrorist attack on American Centre in Kolkata.

Top officials of the commissionerate police and Delhi sleuths took part in the swift operation for capturing Rahman. His house was also thoroughly searched and the area was sealed as the police team conducted operation, Sharma said. Rahman would be taken to Delhi after being produced in a court at Salepur in Cuttack district for a transit remand.