B’lore madrasa teacher nabbed by Delhi Police over al-Qaeda links

A madrasa teacher from Bangalore has been arrested by Delhi Police for suspected links with al-Qaeda, making it the fourth arrest in its ongoing operation against the terror outfit.

Maulana Anzar Shah was arrested in Bangalore by a team of Delhi Police’s Special Cell on Wednesday following which he was brought to Delhi on transit remand and produced before a court on Thursday which sent him to police custody till January 20, said a police official.

In December, Delhi Police had arrested three suspected operatives of al-Qaeda module in the India sub-continent (AQIS).

While Mohammed Asif (41), the first one to be arrested, is believed to be one of the founding members and the Indian head (Amir) of AQIS’s motivation, recruitment and training wing, was held from Seelampur in North-east Delhi, another operative Abdul Rahman (37) was arrested from Jagatpur area of Cuttack in Odisha.

The third, Zafar Masood, allegedly acted as a financier for the module. He was arrested from Mohalla Deepa Sarai in UP’s Sambhal district. They were all booked under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Shah, the latest arrest in connection with the module, had met Mohammed Asif at a religious congregation in Bangalore, following which he was introduced to Abdul Rahman and Zafar Masood.

He was asked to act as a provider of logistic support whenever the need arose, said an official privy to the investigation.

The Special Cell has evidence of communication between Shah, Abdul Rehman and Zafar Masood, too, mostly carried out through voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services. The investigators have also traced a money trail connecting Shah and Masood, the official said.

A few more persons are presently under the police scanner and more arrests are likely, the official added. 

AQIS was floated by al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahari himself in September 2014 following a meeting somewhere in Afghanistan-Pakistan region which reportedly had in its quorum the entire Grand Council (Arabian Shura) of al-Qaeda, including al-Zawahiri’s son in law.