After surveillance for more than two months and raids at 200 places in North India, Delhi Police achieved a major success. A most wanted terrorist Mohammad Shahnawaz Alam and his two associates were arrested. They have connections to ISIS inspired modules. Police have claimed that they were planning to carry out major blasts in Akshardham temple in Delhi and Ayodhya just ahead of the upcoming festivals. These were in the final stage. Chhabar House in Mumbai was also their target. He was in contact with Pakistani handlers and had also done recce for attacks in the country.
Alam was on the most-wanted list and the NIA had also announced a reward of Rs 3 lakh for his arrest after he fled from Pune. Special Commissioner HGS Dhaliwal said that Alam and his associates – Arshad Warsi and Mohammad Rizwan Ashraf are engineers. The surprising thing is that Warsi, who is involved in terrorist activities, is currently pursuing his PhD from Jamia Millia Islamia.
Many dangerous materials including simple chemicals, timers, remotes and batteries used to make IEDs have been seized from them. Police have claimed that they were planning to carry out terrorist incidents in Delhi and surrounding areas. Along with purchasing explosive material, he had also set up a hideout in Delhi. Raids were conducted at several places on September 1 following which the module was busted. Warsi was arrested from Delhi, Ashraf from Lucknow. It is being claimed that he was in touch with a foreign handler and had talked about joining ISIS. Alam was arrested from his rented house during a raid in Delhi at 10 pm on Sunday night on Warsi’s input.