LUCKNOW: After a huge haul of explosives from the house of suspected ISIS operative Abu Yusuf alias Mustaqeem in Balrampur district of central UP, the Delhi police in a joint operation with UPAnti-Terror Squad (ATS) arrested Yusuf’s father Kafeel Ahmad and three of his relatives on Sunday.
The police teams recovered a jacket and an explosive-studded belt besides gunpowder and other material be used in a possible fidayeen (suicide) attack.
Notably, suspected operative of ISIS Abu Yusuf, 36, who had left home in Balrampur on Friday for Rath, was arrested Ridge Road area in central Delhi on Saturday following a brief exchange of fire with the police. However, Delhi police and UP Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) recovered explosives including IED from his house during night long raids in his ancestral village in Balrampur on Sunday.
Additional Superintendent of Police Arvind Kumar claimed that the recovery of the explosive was done on the tip off given by Yusuf himself who was brought to Balrampur by the Delhi police team on Saturday evening. Following the hints given by Yusuf, the cops recovered two more jackets used in Fidayeen attack from a village pond.
Moreover, the police also recovered objectionable Islamic radical literature besides explosives from his house in huge amount. The Delhi police team and UP ATS are camping Ysusf’s village in Balrampur. The cops have sealed the boundaries of Badhya Bhasayeen village and are interrogating the near and dear ones of the suspected ISIS ultra.
As per the police sources, Yusuf had planned a “lone wolf” terror strike in a high footfall area in Delhi “using a high-intensity pressure cooker-based improvised explosive device (IED)”. The police sources had claimed that they had recovered two pressure cooker IEDs weighing around 15kg, a.30 bore pistol and four cartridges that Khan was carrying in a bag. Khan was on a white TVS Apache motorcycle at the time of his arrest.
In a press statement, police said Khan’s interrogation had revealed that his original plan was to carry out the IED blasts during the Independence Day celebrations on August 15. “However, because of the heavy security arrangements, Khan could not enter the city and had to drop the terror strike plan. Khan has reportedly confessed to the police that he tested the explosive device at his village a few months ago.
Meanwhile, those interrogated in his village include Yusuf’s wife Ayesha, father Kafeel Ahmad, his siblings, children and other relatives. However, the villagers were stunned over the revelation of his association with ISIS and the plan to conduct a fidayeen attack.
As per the key sources, Yusuf had been involved in accumulation of explosives for the last two years. He used to move in Hasimpara market area of Utraula in the garb of a bangle seller and was collecting and storing explosive but the local police had no clue about it.
During the interrogation, Yusuf’s wife Ayesha admitted her husband’s involvement in suspicious activities for the last two years, said the sources. She reportedly told the cops that he used to take her money also to buy terror related literature and explosives. She admitted that Yusuf used to store
explosives in an empty box in small amounts over a period of two years. She objected but he never listened to her, claimed Ayesha.
Pleading for his mercy, Ayesha said she had four children to nurture, how would she manage life after Yusuf. However, she claimed that she did not know about the sources where Yusuf got radicalised from.
Even Yusuf’s father, now in police custody, regretted his son’s activities but urged police authorities to forgive him once. He also claimed that he was ignorant of his son’s movements and his terror related activities. Besides, his father, two other relatives of Yusuf – nephew Farooq and another relative Wasim-- were also picked up by the police team from Idgah on Utraula road. They were being interrogated in Utraula police kotwali.