Hyderabad Man Among 3 Held by Gujarat ATS for Terror Plots

Hyderabad, Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Sunday arrested three terror suspects, including Hyderabad-based Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed, who was allegedly linked with the Islamic State (IS), for conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks.

Saiyed, who completed his medical degree in China and had travelled to France in search for a job, was accused of preparing ‘ricin’, a lethal poison. He was arrested two Glock and a Beretta pistols and 30 live cartridges.

The two other accused were identified as Azad Suleman Sheikh and Mohammad Suhail Mohammad Saleem. The trio conducted a recce of several sensitive locations in Lucknow, Delhi, and Ahmedabad, a senior ATS officer said on Sunday.

“Dr Saiyed is highly educated and radicalised, and had planned to collect funds and recruit persons as part of a conspiracy to carry out major terrorist activities”, Gujarat ATS DIG Sunil Joshi told reporters.

The accused have also disclosed that their handler sent a consignment of weapons via a drone across the Pakistan border, the official said.

A senior official disclosed to Deccan Chronicle that the accused had been on the radar of Central agencies as well as the ATS Ahmedabad since 2024. They were associated with Rizwan Ansari of Daryagunj, Delhi, who was previously arrested by the ATS Gujarat along with Delhi anti sabotage teams last year.

Acting on a tip-off, an ATS team arrested Saiyed near Adalaj in Gandhinagar on November 7. Saiyed had procured equipment and raw materials and begun initial chemical processing to produce ricin. The poison can be made from the waste material left over from processing castor beans.

On interrogation, Saiyed revealed that he was plotting to carry out terrorist activities and had collected the weapons from an isolated place at Kalol in the Gandhinagar district.

The officer said that Saiyed's handler, Abu Khadija, was a resident of Afghanistan associated with the ISKP (Islamic State Khorasan Province), and he had been in contact with several individuals from Pakistan.

Sheikh and Saleem, both hailing from Uttar Pradesh, were arrested in Banaskantha district for allegedly supplying weapons to Saiyed based on information collected from his mobile phone, he said. They had procured weapons from Hanumangadh in Rajasthan.

DIG Joshi said the CDR (call detail record) of the suspects and their interrogation of the accused showed they had been conducting reconnaissance of sensitive locations for the last year. “We have not come across any local sleeper cell yet in their connection, but an investigation will be carried out on every aspect of involvement of local and international networks,” he added.

Whether they are involved with the ISKP is a matter of investigation, he said, adding that the Gujarat ATS was also investigating the case in different states.