LeT men from Hyderabad Deccan enlisting youth for terror acts: TOI

HYDERABAD: Absconding Laskar-e-Toiba (LeT) operatives from the city have turned recruiters for banned outfits and started enlisting youth from across the country for carrying out terror attacks and targeted killings, reports Times of India on Monday. 

Though online recruitment through propaganda videos of ISIS has been under the scanner of intelligence agencies, the National Investigation Agency's recently concluded probe into a pan-Indian terror module, busted in January last, has revealed that the banned terror outfit has operatives in the city.

On September 16, the NIA special court in Bangalore had sentenced 13 LeT operatives, including B Com student from the city, Obaidur Ur Rehman, to five-year imprisonment for conspiring to kill right-wing politicians, journalists and police personnel from Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Hubli and Nanded.

The report said the four-year investigation by NIA's Hyderabad unit revealed that six of them, currently residing in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, were instrumental in hatching the conspiracy. Three of the 13 convicts — Abdul Hakeem Jamadar, Zafar Iqbal Sholapur and Md Akram from Karnataka — had in fact got in touch with Abdul Rahman alias Mohammed Farhatulla Ghori, the terror operative from Hyderabad wanted in the Akshardham temple attack case. Hakeem Jamadar and Iqbal Sholapur met Ghori in Karachi, while Akram contacted him in Saudi Arabia twice (2011 and 2012).

"Jamadar and Zafar wanted to join Taliban and fight against Nato forces in Afghanistan. Ghori convinced them to carry out jihadi activities in India and introduced them to ISI handlers Hamd, Mustafa, Abdul Wahed and LeT commander Riyan. The duo was trained in intelligence gathering, cyber espionage and weapon handling," an NIA official said.

LeT and Huji operative from Hyderabad, Mohammed Abdul Majeed, brother of Task Force blast case accused, Shahid Bilal, had lured Akram of Bangalore to Saudi with a driver job as cover. "Majeed introduced Akram to several LeT operatives of Hyderabad based in Riyadh and Dammam, who were already guiding other accused about how to carry out terror attacks in India," an official, who was part of the investigation, told TOI.

Among the six Hyderabad LeT operatives, three of them have criminal cases registered against them. Ghori is wanted in the Akshardhan terror attack case, while Mohammed Bhai alias Abdul Bari alias Abu Hamza in the 2002 Dilsukhnagar Sai Baba temple blast case and Siddique Bin Osman in the 1998 conspiracy case (155/98) registered at the CCS, Hyderabad.

"Red Corner Notices are issued against all the wanted accused from the city and even the Saudi Arabian government was given their details, requesting for capture in case of a trace so that they could be deported," a Telangana intelligence official, said.

LeT operatives from the city: Md Abdul Majeed, Siddique Bin Osman alias Abu Hanzala alias Saber alias Chimamu alias Rafeeq alias Jabri, Furkhan Bhai alias Abdulla alias Abu Saad alias Masood, Abdul Rahman alias Mohammed Farhatullah Ghori alias Abu Sufiyan alias Sufi Mama alias Faru Miya alias Qaid alias FG alias Professor, Asad Khan alias Abu Sufiyan alias Asadullah Khan and Mohammed Bhai alias Abdul Bari alias Abu Hamza.