Suspected terrorist set to join Al Qaeda arrested in B’luru

Bengaluru: A suspected terrorist was arrested in Bengaluru and during preliminary probe it was revealed that the youth from Assam was set to join the Al Qaeda and pledged support to waging a jihad against the country, police sources said on Monday.

On Sunday night, sleuths of the Central Crime Branch’s (CCB) Special Wing in coordination with the Internal Security Division (ISD) and Intelligence Wing raided a residence in the city’s Tilaknagar locality following a tip-off over the presence of the suspected terrorist identified as Akthar Hussain from Assam.

Besides Hussain, four other persons were also detained.

Initially, it was suspected that the he had worked for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group.

According to the police, Hussain has made contacts with global terror outfits virtually via social media platforms like Facebook and Telegram.

He was then contacted by the outfits after which Hussain was set to move to Kashmir and from there he was planning to meet Al Qaeda operatives, the sources claimed.

Local residents have said that he did not speak to anyone in the locality except children.

Hussain was a food delivery boy and worked till late night and always remained quiet, they added.

The Bengaluru police are yet to make an official statement regarding the case.

The police sources said that an FIR has been lodged at the Tilaknagar police station and sleuths are questioning the five persons.

In June, Talib Hussain linked to the Hizbul Mujahideen terror outfit was arrested from Bengaluru.

The debate of Bengaluru being a sleeper cell for terrorists and anti-national forces came to the forefront with Hussain’s arrest.