Delhi News: The Delhi Police Special Cell has arrested a wanted terrorist who is a member of the Pune module of the ISIS, officials said on Friday. The accused was identified as Rizwan Abdul Haji Ali.
As per the officials, the accused was arrested by a team of Special Cell on a secret tip off received from the Delhi-Faridabad border, as reported by news agency PTI.
An illegal firearm was recovered from his possession, they stated. The National Investigation Agency had declared a reward of Rs 3 lakh for the arrest of Rizwan Abdul Haji Ali, a resident of Delhi's Daryaganj.
It is suspected that he was on a reconnaissance for a possible attack on some Delhi-NCR-based VIPs, an officer said, adding he was being interrogated.
Agencies were searching for the wanted terrorist for the last year and a half, after he fled from the custody of the Pune Police, PTI reported, citing officials.
Teams of the Delhi Police, Maharashtra Police, and NIA have so far arrested seven members of the ISIS' Pune module, including Ali, official sources told PTI.
Last year, two separate cases under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) were lodged by the Delhi Police's Special Cell and Mumbai Police against the members of the module for their alleged involvement in anti-India activities, the officer said.
Shahnawaz and Ali wanted to go for Hijrat and to collect funds for the purpose, Shahnawaz got involved in criminal activities.
In 2018, Ali got connected with an ISIS handler over a social media application. Since then, he and his associates were deeply involved in the ISIS ideology and were making plans and preparations for committing terror acts, the statement said.
In April 2022, Ali and Shahnawaz came in touch with Imran and Yunus Saaki and began collecting materials for preparing Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
The module has been active in Pune for the last year and a half, PTI reported, citing sources. The sources also said that the members of the module are allegedly recruited online by Pakistan-based handlers identified as Farahtulla Gauri and Shahid Faisal.