The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Sunday arrested a 24-year-old youth from Parbhani district in Marathwada region for suspected ISIS links.
“Khan was arrested early on Sunday morning and around one kg of explosives and other instruments have been recovered from him,” a senior ATS official said.
Prima facie, the explosives are low-grade explosives, the official said.
Khan was also found to have used a car remote key for operating an IED, he said.
ATS is also probing his suspected connections with global terror outfit Islamic State.
Recently, 31-year-old Nasir Bin Yafi Chaus was arrested from Parbhani. Chaus was planning to join the Islamic State and was in constant touch with their members through social media.
On Friday, a 43-year-old man–Rizwan Khan–allegedly involved in recruiting youths for ISIS was arrested from Thane district in a joint operation by Kerala Police and the Maharashtra ATS as part of the probe in the southern state where several youths are suspected to have joined the terror group and headed to destinations abroad after being radicalised.
Khan was picked up from his residence at Kalyan in Thane, within days of arrest of a man associated with Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) of controversial preacher Zakir Naik, based on a complaint in Kerala.
On July 21, Kerala Police, assisted by Maharashtra ATS, arrested Arshi Qureshi, associated with IRF, from Navi Mumbai for allegedly radicalising youths.
The Kerala police traced Qureshi to Mumbai following a complaint lodged in Kochi by the brother of a young woman, suspected to have joined ISIS along with her husband and left the state.
Rizwan Khan and Arshid Qureshi, both Naik aides, had facilitated the conversion of around 800 people across the country, ATS officials said.
Both are connected to controversial televangelist Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), an official source revealed to one of the daily newspapers.
Officials said documents and marriage certificates seized from Khan indicate that the duo had converted over 800 Christians and Hindus to Islam.
Rizwan however denied his involvement in any forced conversion.
Citing ATS officials, the report said that the arrested accused, along with two other organizations apart from the IRF, were working to carry out conversions on a very large scale. And IRF is an umbrella organization.
“It’s a very critical issue and needs to be addressed on a priority basis,” the report said citing an officer monitoring the situation.
The officials also reportedly stated that the organizations involved in conversion mainly target college students and jail inmates after providing them legal and financial help.
