Gujarat ATS arrests four Sri Lankan nationals with IS links

The Gujarat AntiTerrorist Squad ATS has arrested four Sri Lankans with links to the banned outfit Islamic State IS who were allegedly on a mission to carry out terror activities in India police said on MondayActing on a tipoff the ATS apprehended the accused at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel airport after they travelled from Sri Lankas capital Colombo via Chennai on Sunday night an official saidThe men travelled to India to carry out terror activities at the behest of IS Director General of Police Vikas Sahay saidThe ATS team also recovered three Pakistanmade pistols and 20 cartridges lying abandoned at a location in the citys Nana Chiloda area based on geocoordinates and photographs found on the mobile phone seized from the accused Sahay saidThe men were allegedly directed by their Pakistani handler to collect these weapons he saidThe accused Mohammad Nusrat 35 Mohammad Faarukh 35 Mohammad Nafran 27 and Mohammad Rasdeen 43 took a flight from Colombo and reached Chennai in the wee hours of SundayThey then took another flight to Ahmedabad where they landed around 8 pm Sunday the official saidThe men informed investigators that they were earlier associated with the banned Sri Lankan radical militant outfit National Thowheeth Jamath NJT and joined IS after getting in touch with Pakistani handler Abu Bakr Al Bagdadi he saidThey are members of IS radicalised by a leader from Sri Lanka who is living in Pakistan Sahay told reportersThey got in touch with Abu the IS leader in Pakistan in February this year and remained in contact with him through social media and were completely radicalised by the ideology he saidTheir leader ordered them to carry out terrorist activities in India to which they agreed and even showed readiness to carry out suicide bombings Sahay saidThe men were paid Rs 4 lakh in Sri Lankan currency to carry out the activities he saidThe mobile phones recovered from the accused had photographs and documents showing their association with IS and an IS flag was also recovered from their bag and two such flags were recovered from the abandoned parcel containing weapons the official saidThe men were instructed to leave these flags at the site of their terror activities he saidSahay said the ATS used a translator to interrogate the accused as they did not understand any other language apart from TamilInterrogations revealed that Abu had informed the accused about the weapons hidden at the given location in Ahmedabad for their use he saidThe pistols carried star marks and cartridges were prima facie found to be made in the Federally Administered Tribal Area FATA of Pakistan he saidOne of the four arrested terrorists Mohammad Nusrat also holds a valid visa for PakistanThe men were booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act UAPA Indian Penal Code and Arms Act and further investigation was underway Sahay saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever