British national Al Qaeda terrorist arrested in Delhi

A British national Al Qaeda terrorist on a mission to radicalise Rohingya Muslims to fight in Myanmar has been arrested in the Indian capital, police said on Monday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police P.S. Kushwah said Samiun Rahman, 27, was arrested near Shakarpur bus stand in east Delhi on Sunday evening.

Police said the accused's mission was to set up base in Manipur or Mizoram and radicalise Rohingya Muslims to fight the military in Myanmar.

Kushwah said the accused was in India for the past two months under fake identity of Shumon Haq from Kishanganj of Bihar and also had a fake voter identification card in the same name.

Rahman, who had been an operative of Al Qaeda for the last four years, had received a three-month arms training in Syria and fought in Alleppo, Kushwah said. Police also recovered a pistol and four cartridges from him.

The officer said that in the past two months the accused was in touch with different people from south India and West Bengal as well as Jammu and Kashmir.

"Initially he showed some interest in Kashmir and was talking to people over there. He wanted to know about the jihad happening in India but he didn't take it forward," Kushwah told IANS.

Kushwah said Rahman was previously working in Bangladesh and was jailed.

"He had radicalised around a dozen people in Bangladesh," he said, describing him as a "hardcore terrorist".

Rahman had visited Morocco, Turkey, Syria and Bangladesh for terrorist activities, police said.

After his release on bail from Bangladesh in April, he got directions from his group and moved to India.

In July, police received information that a terrorist of Al Qaeda was trying to set up base in Delhi to carry out terrorist activities in India.

On Sunday, police got another input that he would come to Shakarpur to meet a probable recruit, following which police arrested him.

Police said that Rahman was in contact with members of his group through Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram.

During the past two months, he stayed at various 'Madrassas' in Kishanganj of Bihar, Hazari Bagh of Jharkhand, Delhi and other places, according to police.

It is believed that he was in touch with a number of youths to incite them to join Al Qaeda.

The officer said that Rahman's father, hailing from Bangladesh, was a businessman in London and his brother and three sisters also worked in London.

Rahman's family owned a residence in central London, Kushwah said.

Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar and taken refuge in Bangladesh -- and some in India too -- to escape violence in the wake of a military crackdown.

--IANS

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