'IS men planned to poison water, food during major events'

The Aurangabad ATS produced the accused in court on Wednesday. Pic/Abdul Basi

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday arrested nine people, including two minors, for their alleged IS (Islamic State) links. The suspects had formed a gang which allegedly planned on mixing chemicals in water and food during a major event.

The ATS had been keeping a close watch on the nine suspects since the past two months. To arrest them, it carried out search operations following a tip-off from central agencies about the possibility of the suspects executing their plan. Raids were immediately conducted at five places, including Mumbra, Thane and Aurangabad, from where the nine suspects were eventually held.

The raids were conducted at Amrutnagar, Kausa, Moti Baug, and Almas colony in Mumbra and Kausar colony, Rahat colony and Damdi Mahal in Aurangabad. Cops have recovered six knives from the suspects.

Identified as
Seven of the accused have been identified as Salman Khan, Fahad Shaikh, Jamen Kutepadi, Mohsin Khan, Mazhar Shaikh (son of underworld gangster Rashid Malbari), Sarfaraz Ahmad and Mushahidul Islam alias Tariq. ATS officials said all accused were grilled for over 16 hours before their arrest. During interrogations, the accused revealed they had named their organization Ummat-e-Mohammadia (followers of prophet Mohammad).

Sayyed Mukhtar Ahmed, family member of Tariq, one of the accused in the Aurangabad ATS case, shows the computer, the hard disk of which the ATS seized. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

ATS has said the gang was following IS's ideology. During the initial interrogations, the arrested accused admitted to planning an attack which involved mixing chemicals into food and water during a major event. They have not yet mentioned where and when they were going to carry out these attacks.

'The chemicals'
Sources revealed ATS found acetone and hydrogen peroxide from the accused, and have sent it to the FSL. While acetone is most commonly used as a nail polish remover, hydrogen peroxide is used as a mild antiseptic on minor cuts, scrapes and burns. The accused were planning on making a poisonous concoction using some chemicals, including rat poison, to contaminate food and water in highly crowded places.

However, the accused did reveal that they used apps like WhatsApp and Snapchat to converse. An ATS officer said, "The accused had formed a WhatsApp group and were strictly asked to share confidential keywords on Snapchat, since messages sent on the app disappear automatically."

Busting the nexus
Two months ago, the intelligence department had issued an alert saying IS sympathisers might target people at the Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradesh, since lakhs of people bathe together in the river there.

Cops have recovered six knives from the arrested accused. Representation pic/Getty Images

The accused were allegedly planning on poisoning the water in such a way that it would kill devotees after they stepped into it. Various organisations like NIA, IB and Maharashtra ATS were keeping a close eye on them, after which they were finally arrested. However, ATS is still verifying their targets. All accused have been remanded in police custody till February 5.

The arrested accused
Mohsin Khan
According to ATS Mohsin is the mastermind of the group. He wanted to establish his own force across the country. Sources revealed that Mohsin was radicalized by a Syria-based online IS handler, after which he began radicalising others from his Mumbra home. He'd also supposedly given military training to all the members of the group at a camp in Aurangabad. The members would wake up early, go to the gym, then head to prayers, after which Mohsin allegedly conducted brainwashing sessions with them on 'how to save Islam'. Cops said Mohsin first brainwashed his brothers Salman and a minor. An officer said, "Mohsin's younger brother Salman was a football coach. Mohsin, who is a good speaker, would select youths from Mumbra and other districts in the state after which he'd radicalize them." Sources also claim that the three brothers used to go to spiritual locations in Mumbra and Aurangabad to target people who were easy to radicalize. Once they were picked, Mohsin showed them videos and speeches against Muslims.

Sarfaraz Ahmad
The Aurangabad resident is married to Mohsin's only sister. Sources said Mohsin had arranged their marriage to make relations stronger between all members and win their confidence. Sarfaraz had allegedly selected members from Aurangabad, and had been trained to do lone wolf attacks.

Mohammad Mazhar Sheikh
Held from Mumbra, he is a computer engineer who worked at a Bhiwandi-based company. He is the son of sharpshooter Rashid Malbari, a D-gang member deported to India after being arrested in Abu Dhabi. He met Salman and Mohsin on the eve of Ramzan at Mumbra. He used to go to the gym daily with Salman and the minor. On January 22, he contacted Mohsin after getting to know he was under the cops' radar. Mohsin summoned him to Aurangabad. When he was on his way there in a bus, cops located him and nabbed him.

Fahad Shaikh
A civil engineer, he also met Mohsin at a mosque during Ramzan. Fahad has a Saudi Arabia visa, which he was planning on using to flee the country after the group executed their plan. Few months ago, Salman visited his home in Mumbra and invited him for his sister's wedding, where they allegedly discussed about their terror plans.

Jaman Kutepadi
Kutepadi was a medical representative. Sources alleged he was working with a government firm. Mohsin had given him the responsibility to provide chemicals and other logistics for the attack.
Sources said the suspects planning the attack got the chemical from him. This chemical is used for explosions. When the suspects got to know cops were keeping an eye on them, they tried to unsuccessfully dispose the chemical.

Mushahidul Islam alias Tariq
He is a BA dropout who was working in his family's printing business. Cops have seized his computer.

Minor
He was radicalized because he holds a diploma in electronics and could help with the technical aspects. Sources revealed he was tasked with making the explosive. ATS has seized six pen drives, 24 mobile phones, six laptops, six Wi-Fi routers, DVDs, CDs, six hard drives, six memory cards, dongles, graphic cards and 15 RAM devices.

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