Pakistani national arrested, cops claim ISI trained him, was sent to India 15 years ago

New Delhi: Ahead of the festive season, the Special Cell of the Delhi Police arrested one Pakistani national allegedly involved in a sleeper cell from Delhi's Laxmi Nagar on Monday — curbing a 'big terror plan', cops informed on Tuesday.

Police seized an AK-47 rifle with one extra magazine, 60 cartridges, a hand grenade, two sophisticated pistols with 50 rounds, and several fake IDs from his possession, a senior official said.

40-year-old Mohd. Ashraf aka Ali a resident of Punjab Province of Pakistan was living in different parts of India for the last 15 years, whom cops arrested now from the Ramesh Park area of Laxmi Nagar in East Delhi with an intel was received.

According to the DCP Special Cell Pramod Kushwah, Ashraf is a militant trained by Pakistan's ISI, and had changed his hideouts over 6 times; he transgressed the Indian

border through Siliguri via Bangladesh. Later he went to Kolkata, Ajmer, Jammu, and Delhi, he worked in a hotel in Ajmer as well as in Jammu, Kushwah confirmed.

During interrogation, it was revealed that he was given a task to carry out terror activities during the festive season in the Capital and some other parts of the country including Kolkata.

The DCP stated that Asraf was involved in several terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the country, and was tasked to execute a terrorist operation by a Nasir in the past, Nasir is the person who provided him the weapons like AK47, cartridges, and hand grenade in Delhi.

Further, the DCP revealed that Ashraf is married to an Indian woman in Vaishali, Ghaziabad to obtain official documents and acquired an Indian ID in Bihar, the Police have also recovered an Indian passport from his possession, and he also visited Saudi Arabia and Thailand on this passport.

He used to pretend he was "Peer" (Maulana) and people also used to come over for spiritual solutions, he was having a number of followers who often visit him, the DCP Special Cell said.

Further, he revealed that he was in contact with his handlers through social media not via mobile phone. The special cell has produced Ashraf before the court from where he was given in police custody for 14 days. The special cell operation which led to Asraf's arrest was also monitored by the Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana. The city police chief stated, "It is a good catch by special cell ahead of the festive season. A big terror plan has been foiled by our team."

"We are trying to identify his other associates," the DCP added.