In a major breakthrough, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist, who is closely related to the mastermind of the 2007 Glasgow airport attack, after he was brought to India from Saudi Arabia where he was in custody for his alleged involvement in recruiting people in India for Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
According to senior NIA officials related to the probe, Dr Sabeel Ahmed, who worked at a hospital in the Saudi kingdom, was brought to India late Friday.
Ahmed had moved from Bengaluru to Saudi Arabia in 2010-11. He was also arrested in connection with the 2007 attack in which a person died, said an NIA official requesting anonymity.
The official said that Ahmed is the younger brother of aeronautical engineer and UK airport attack mastermind Kafeel Ahmed. His mission had failed and he died on August 2 after their bombs went off.
Anti-terror probe agency officials said that Ahmed was also wanted in a case registered by the Delhi Police Special Cell in 2015 and was declared a proclaimed offender by a Delhi court on July 12, 2016.
In August 2017, the Indian agencies had brought in another Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) suspect named Syed Mohammed Zishan Ali from Saudi Arabia. He is believed to be married to Ahmed's sister.
The official said that the role of Ahmed in India came under scrutiny after the Special Cell busted a major AQIS network, with the arrest of Cuttack-based cleric Abdul Rehman and others in December 2015.
According to agency officials, Rehman allegedly told the police that he met Ahmed in Bengaluru in 2009, shortly after the latter had returned from the UK after serving a sentence.
The official added that Ahmed will be produced before a court later in the day in Delhi. He will be taken to other places, including Bengaluru, for further investigation on transit remand.
The NIA alleged that Ahmed was introduced to LeT recruitment plot by his brother-in-law Imran Ahmed, arrested in 2013 for travelling with a fake passport, and an engineer from Bengaluru Mohammed Shahid Faisal, who is still absconding.
(With inputs from IANS)
