3 ISKP Operatives Planning To Leave India Arrested From Porbandar By Gujarat ATS: DGP

A special team of Gujarat ATS carried out a major operation in the state's Porbandar arresting three ISKP operatives and two more suspects who planned to leave the country via Gujarat.

The Gujarat Anti-terrorist Squad (ATS) team has carried out a major operation busting a terror module while arresting three operatives of the banned outfit Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) in the state's Porbandar area. This action has been taken on the basis of intelligence inputs received by the team. The operation was launched on Friday (June 9) under the leadership of ATS DIG Deepen Bhadran. A total of five suspects have been arrested by the police, as per the state home minister.

In a press conference, Director General of Police (DGP) Vikas Sahay said that three operatives of the banned outfit ISKP were arrested from Porbandar based on inputs received by ATS that some persons were looking to go out of the country via Gujarat. "The information was analysed and found to be factual," he said.

According to the police, three terrorists detained from Porbandar on Friday morning were identified as Ubed Nasir Mir, Hanan Hayat Shol, and Mohammad Hajim Shah, and all three are from Srinagar.

"Two more names surfaced from their interrogation, they were also involved with ISKP. Zuber Ahmed Munshi from Srinagar and Sumerabanu Hanif Malek of Surat," the top cop added.

Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi lauded the police and ATS teams saying, "Gujarat police have been thwarting terror plots and it will continue to do so in the coming days. Gujarat police will take forward the Zero tolerance policy of the Centre as put forth by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Five suspected persons have been arrested, one from Surat and three from Porbandar."

Calling it a "big success" for Gujarat Police, he said that the ATS will inform about its probe findings after the investigation concludes. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel also congratulated the officials for this operation, as per the state home minister.

The accused were interrogated throughout Friday night in connection with their terrorist activities. It was ascertained that they were preparing to flee outside India to join ISKP and were in contact with each other for the past year. They were allegedly being given messages from their handlers sitting in Pakistan.

A special team of the ATS had been active in the special operations in Porbandar and surrounding areas for the past few days.

According to inputs, the five arrested suspects includes a woman named Sameera Bano, a resident of Surat, who got married in Tamil Nadu. She allegedly used to work on the Islamic State module. She used to prepare 16 to 18-year-old boys for religious conversions and is accused of being involved in a conversion racket, as per inputs. 

Earlier last month, in a major action, the ATS exposed a module related to Al Qaeda. On May 22, the ATS arrested a Bangladeshi national from Ahmedabad, while three were detained. The four arrested were Bangladeshi nationals, who were living illegally in Ahmedabad and motivating Muslim youths to join Al-Qaeda.