Alleged Al-Qaeda links: 11 people arrested from 3 states; 3 detained
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New Delhi: Based on information from central agencies, police arrested 11 people from three different states for alleged links to banned terrorist group Al-Qaeda. The arrests were made from Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, while the special cell of the Delhi Police and the police of other states were involved. The police also took three more people for interrogation.
A police official said that six people were arrested from Bhiwadi in Rajasthan during weapons training. Hasan Ansari, Inamul Ansari, Altaf Ansari, Arshad Khan, Umar Farooq and Shahbaz Ansari, natives of Jharkhand, have been arrested. They were staying in Rajasthan for a few days. After this, five people from Ranchi in Jharkhand were arrested.
They are Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed, Motiyur, Rizwan, Mufti Rahmatullah and Faizan.
Three people were taken into custody from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh.
The police officer said that the arrested conducted weapons training in the forests of the Aravalli hills in Rajasthan, and they were suspected of planning an attack during the festive season in North India.
In a statement, Delhi Police said that many weapons were seized from the arrested persons. They said that they have come to know that they have been contacting each other through social media for months. They added that further investigations are on.
It was only last month that Pakistani authorities announced the arrest of Amin Ul-Haq, a close associate of Al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden. Ul-Haq is accused of planning "sabotage activities" and targeting important installations within the country.
This arrest was carried out by counter-terrorism officials in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, in the city of Gujrat.