Hyderabad: Three cousins from a family in Hyderabad who were about to board a flight to Srinagar at Nagpur airport in order to join terror outfits were arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad on Saturday.
The arrests were made based on information given by the Telangana Intelligence department. The three were identified as Abdul Basith and Omar Faruq Hussaini of Babanagar, Chandrayangutta, and Maaz Hussain of Mehidipatnam. They were said to be heading to join a terror outfit like the ISIS or the al-Qaeda.
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Parents of the 3 shocked at arrests
Two of the three were engineering dropouts and had been caught in Kolkata in September 2014 while they were on their way to join the ISIS via Bangladesh. They were then brought back to Hyderabad and counselled with the help of their parents and religious leaders. No criminal case was booked at that time.
Former SIMI chief is related to the trio arrested from Nagpur
Former Student Islamic Movement of India national president Syed Salahuddin is the uncle of the three persons who were arrested in a joint operation by the Maharashtra ATS and Telangana Counter Intelligence sleuths in Nagpur while they were on their way to join a terror organisation.
Syed Salahuddin died in October last year in a road accident, a month after the trio was detained for the first time while going to Kolkata. A TS Intelligence official said, “The important fact is the SIMI former president is their uncle. The outfit was involved in several terror acts and Salahuddin was also named in terror cases. It could be that Salahuddin may have influenced them.”
“Their parents were trying their best not give them access to mobile phones and internet. They may have secretly got a phone through their friends. At this moment we are ascertaining who motivated them,” he said. The trio live in the same locality as Salahuddin.
Salahuddin, who originally hails from Nalgonda, was returning to his house at Babanagar, Hyderabad, after attending a family function. He died when his car hit another vehicle. An engineering graduate, Salahuddin joined the Islamic group at a young age. He became the organisation’s national president in 1998 and held the post till 2000.
Telangana intelligence wing tipped Maha ATS
- The arrests were made by Maharashtra ATS based on information given by the Telangana state Intelligence department.
- The trio were said to be heading to join a terror outfit like the ISIS or the al-Qaeda.
- No criminal case was booked
