Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh): The Uttar Pradesh Police had apprehended terrorists - Minhaz and Maseeruddin alias Musheer from Kakori area of the capital Lucknow, for allegedly having links to the Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind on Wednesday. Prashant Kumar, UP Police ADG (Law and Order), in a presser stated that the accused had plotted a conspiracy in the capital and had carried out a recce of the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Setu Mandir, located near Lucknow University and in the crowded areas of Mangal Bazar in Alambagh area in January. Two Al Qaeda commanders Tauheed and Musa were also set to join them from Kashmir to implement the plan, the ADG said, adding that the accused planned to carry out the attack, post Friday prayers, in Lucknow, for which the date and time of the blast would have been fixed.
According to ADG Law and Order, Minhaj and Musheer, who were arrested by the UP ATS, were in direct contact with Tauheed and Musa, two commanders of Al Qaeda organization based in Jammu and Kashmir. Also all the information from Lucknow was being shared with the Al Qaeda commanders, the police official added saying that Minhaj had entrusted Musheer with the responsibility to blast an e-rickshaw, using a pressure cooker bomb. The ADG further said that the cooker bomb was made by Minhaj and had to be connected to the battery of the e-rickshaw and their plans were to explode it in a crowded market place, so that maximum number of people could be targeted.
Read: Uttar Pradesh ATS arrests two Al Qaeda terrorists from Kakori
As per information by the UP ATS, the explosives recovered from the accused are very dangerous, and that it could easily inflict serious injuries to hundreds of people within a 100 meter circle and could've been fatal for those coming within 30 feet of this blast. The ATS have also revealed that they have evidence against the two prominent commanders of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization, Tauheed and Musa, having provided huge amount of money to Minhaj and Musheer from Kashmir to carry out the work and that the duo used to be active on social media. In this regard, the investigating officers are also probing the bank accounts of the accused.
The UP ATS also recovered 12 videos from the cellphones of the terrorists caught from Kakori and that the videos were allegedly sent by their handlers to mislead the youth. These videos were being used by the Al Qaeda and its Indian module Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, the ATS added. The UP special police force on having traced the call details of both the Al Qaeda terrorists, learned that most of the calls were made to Delhi, Meerut, Hardoi, Bareilly and Kanpur. The highest number of calls was traced to Kanpur on 8th and 9th July, wherein Minhaj had spoken four times to two different people. Based on these call details, the ATS has launched a separate investigation and three teams have been sent to different districts.
