NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Friday convicted four operatives of Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) for conspiracy to commit terror acts across the country and recruiting members for the terror group.The convict, identified as Mohd Asif, Mohd Abdul Rehman, Zafar Masood, and Abdul Sami, were convicted under sections 18 and 18B of the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Apart from the four AQIS operatives, the Court acquitted two people, identified as Syed Mohd. Zeeshan Ali and Dr. Sabeel Ahmad, who were accused of allegedly being part of a conspiracy for providing financial and logistics assistance to the cadres of AQIS in the United Arab Emirates.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police, who had arrested all the four convicted Al-Qaida-linked operatives, said in the month of December 2015, information was received that the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda is trying to set up its base in India under the banner of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and had declared one Asim Umar as its Amir.
“It was also informed that some youth from Western Uttar Pradesh districts have already left India and joined its cadre in Pakistan and one of its modules is active in the Sambhal District of UP. This information was cultivated and sources were deployed in Western UP,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Rajiv Ranjan Singh said.
During further development of this information, it was revealed that one Mohd. Asif, a resident of Sambhal, UP had visited foreign destinations including Iran and Turkey, and is involved in suspicious activities.