Hyderabad: Police arrest 3 people for planning terrorist attacks

The cops also said that Zahed was the mastermind of the operation, and was working on the directions of three absconding accused, who fled the country and are now in Pakistan, working for the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

The arrests come a little more than a month after the police in Karnataka apprehended 23-year-old Assam resident Akhtar Hussain, who they said had been radicalised.

The accusations

Mohammad Sameeuddin alias Abdul Sami (39), Abdul Zahed alias Motu (39), and Maaz Hassan Farooq alias Maaz (29), with the weapons, cash, and equipment seized from them. (Supplied)

According to the police, Zahed and his accomplices were planning to attack public gatherings in the city.
“They were conspiring to hurl grenades,” the cops said, adding that the group’s motive was to create fear among the public.

Zahed is also said to be involved in several terror activities in Hyderabad, including the suicide attack in 2005 at the Hyderabad City Police Commissioner’s task force office in Begumpet.

“He revived his contacts with his Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) conduits, and was in regular touch with them. He was also in touch with handlers from the Pakistan-based militant group LeT,” the cops said.

3 more absconding

They identified the three absconding accused as Farhatullah Ghori alias FG, Siddique Bin Osman alias Rafique alias Abu Hamzala, and Abdul Majeed alias Chotu. Again, all three were natives of Hyderabad.

“They were wanted in several terror cases, and are now working on the directions of the ISI. In the past, they recruited local youth, radicalised them, and executed blasts,” the police said.

These blasts were near the Saibaba Temple at Dilsukhnagar in 2002, a bus blast at Ghatkopar in Mumbai , a suicide attack on the task force office at Begumpet in 2005, and an attempted blast near the Ganesh Temple in Secunderabad in 2004.

As per the cops, the three handlers had managed to motivate and finance Zahed to plan and execute terror attacks in Hyderabad again.

“At their behest, Zahed recruited Sameeuddin and Maaz Hassan,” the police added.

They apprehended the accused after receiving credible information that Zahed and his associates were receiving a consignment of four grenades on Sunday.

“During preliminary investigation, Zahed confessed that Farhatulla Ghori, Abu Hamzala and Majeed, the three Pakistan-based absconding accused from Hyderabad, had revived their contacts with him,” the police said.