Brother of 2007 Glasgow bomber ‘attended meetings in Saudi Arabia to recruit youth’
The identification of Sabeel by Asadullah as a participant in the alleged plot is likely to see him formally named in the case as an accused, sources said.
A 57-year-old man deported from Saudi Arabia two weeks ago and arrested by the NIA in connection with an alleged plot to recruit Indian youth for terrorism has identified an Indian doctor deported from the United Kingdom in 2007 — following the Glasgow airport attack — as a collaborator.
Asadullah Khan alias Abu Sufiyan, an alleged LeT operative, was arrested on December 9 after he was deported from Saudi Arabia, where he had been under detention for nearly 10 months on the basis of an Interpol Red Corner Notice issued in connection with the NIA case.
He was questioned by multiple agencies between December 10 and 18 and was subsequently remanded in judicial custody by a special court.
Sources said Khan has identified Dr Sabeel Ahmed, 33, a doctor from Bengaluru, as a participant in the alleged meetings in Saudi Arabia in 2011-12 to recruit Indian youth. Sabeel was deported to India as his brother Kafeel Ahmed, an aeronautics researcher, was involved in the June 2007 terror attack at Glasgow airport.
Sabeel has not been formally named as an accused so far, but is suspected to be the same person as accused number 21 (A-21), identified as Dr Motu, in the NIA chargesheet in the case. Dr Motu was tentatively identified as Sabeel by security agencies on the basis of an account provided by an Aurangabad youth, Mohammed Akram, who allegedly attended the meetings in Saudi Arabia in 2011 before being arrested in India in 2012.
Sabeel is suspected to have introduced two key players in the alleged plot to each other — his dentist brother-in-law Imran Ahmed and Bengaluru engineer Mohammed Shahid Faisal alias Ustad. Imran was arrested in 2013 during a visit from Saudi Arabia on a fake passport while Ustad is reported absconding by the NIA. The identification of Sabeel by Asadullah as a participant in the alleged plot is likely to see him formally named in the case as an accused, sources said.
In 2013, Sabeel was linked to the alleged terror plot following Imran’s arrest but had denied any knowledge of the conspiracy.
“I am given to understand that the allegation against me is that I have been part of some meetings in Riyadh and Dammam, where these plots were hatched. I categorically deny having attended any such meetings,” Sabeel had stated in a communiqué from Saudi Arabia.
“I am also given to understand that I am accused of financing and giving logistical support to the plot. It is ridiculous… I have never had any excess finances to distribute to people without having knowledge of what is done with the money,” he had stated.
Asadullah, a native of Hyderabad, is also accused of providing funds in the alleged conspiracy.
Asadullah told investigators that several others alleged to have been in Saudi Arabia and named in the conspiracy by the NIA fled the country prior to his detention by Saudi authorities.
Other key accused in the case — including a doctor from Karnataka, Dr Usmane Ghane Khan, and Bengaluru engineer Mohammed Shahid Faisal — have fled Saudi Arabia and are suspected to be in Pakistan, Asadullah reportedly stated.
Asadullah claimed that none of the persons alleged to be involved with the conspiracy had moved to join the Islamic State. He, however, reportedly claimed that he could easily travel to IS territory through Turkey, if necessary.
As many as 25 people have been named and 17 arrested in the case so far.
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