Deported from Saudi, ‘AQIS suspect’ Syed Mohammad Zishan Ali in custody

Al-Qaeda terrorist Syed Mohammad Zishan Ali has been arrested at the IGI airport in Delhi at the PHQ police on Thursday. Express Photo By Amit Mehra 10 August 2017

An Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) suspect, who was arrested by Delhi Police on Wednesday after being deported from Saudi Arabia for visa violations, was remanded in 14-day police custody on Thursday. The police told Additional Sessions Judge Siddhartha Sharma that the suspect, Syed Zishan Ali, was an active member of the AQIS. They said that Ali needed to be interrogated to ascertain the location of his brother Syed Mohammad Arshiyan and brother-in-law Sabeel Ahmed, who is the brother of alleged Glasgow airport attack mastermind Kafil Ahmed. The Delhi Police Special Cell sought Ali’s custody “to identify the logistics/finance aid to his terrorist outfit from India and abroad and confront the evidences collected so far”.

The Special Cell had claimed to have busted the AQIS module with the arrests of five persons in 2015. They reportedly disclosed the involvement of 12 others, including Ali. A total of 17 people were chargesheeted under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, but only six persons including Ali have been arrested so far. According to the Special Cell, the accused were planning an “untoward terrorist incident” in Delhi and NCR. Sources said Ali was allegedly in charge of recruitment of youths from India, Pakistan and other South Asian countries.

The police said that Ali’s name came up after the arrest of Mohammad Asif on December 14, 2015. Asif is allegedly a founding member of AQIS and in charge of the recruitment, motivation and training wing. His interrogation helped identify several members of the terror outfit and led to four more arrests, including that of Abdur Rehman, who the police chargesheet claims “delivered jihadi speeches” in Jamshedpur and visited Pakistan and met Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists.

Ali’s brother Arshiyan is also alleged to have links with international terror outfits. He was last spotted in Saudi Arabia. The AQIS module case is listed for prosecution arguments on September 4.