NIA to seek custody of arrested Al Qaeda operatives in Delhi Court today
They will be produced in the Patiala House court on Monday afternoon and the NIA will seek their custody for 14 days.
They will be produced in the Patiala House court on Monday afternoon and the NIA will seek their custody for 14 days.
They will be produced in the Patiala House court on Monday afternoon and the NIA will seek their custody for 14 days.
New Delhi / Kochi: Eight of the nine people arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from Ernakulam in Kerala and Murshidabad in West Bengal on charges of having links to al Qaeda were taken to Delhi on Sunday night.
One of the three persons arrested in Ernakulam could not be taken. While Murshid Hassan and Mosaraf Hossen were flown to Delhi on a transit remand issued by the Ernakulam magistrate's court on Sunday night, a flight ticket for the third accused Iyakub Biswas could not be obtained. He was taken to Delhi on Monday morning.
They will be produced in the Patiala House court on Monday afternoon and the NIA will seek their custody for 14 days. The NIA will tell the court that they are part of an al Qaeda's unit controlled by Pakistan and that they had planned terrorist attacks in various parts of the country, including Delhi.
An NIA team questioned those who were taken to Delhi late on Sunday night. During the interrogation, the team presented evidence to show that the accused had online links to the al Qaeda leadership in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
NIA sources said they had been monitoring the group's movements for months and that the agency had obtained evidence confirming the terrorist links of the arrested.
Do not know each other, relationship only with leader: Ernakulam operatives
Murshid Hasan, Iyakub Biswas and Mosaraf Hossen, who were arrested in Kochi on Saturday morning for their alleged links to al Qaeda, have told the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that they didn’t know each other and that they were never in contact.
Investigating agencies said it is the practice of those working for terrorist organisations to not contact each other operating in a unit and communicate only through the leader. This is to ensure that secrets are not divulged even if one of the gang members gets arrested.
For each member, there will be another person appointed as a cover. The NIA believes that Murshid is the leader among the three people arrested in Ernakulam. It is investigating if Iyakub and Mosaraf operated as a cover for each other.
If that is not the case, then there will be two more people in Kerala who were working as cover for Iyakub and Mosaraf, sources said.