Hyderabad: Police foils conspiracy to kill BJP-RSS leaders, 3 suspects held

"The suspects were under constant surveillance and they were picked up when they were about to carry out to target the BJP leaders," said an official in SIT.

Hyderabad: In a joint operation the state intelligence department along with the Commissioner’s Taskforce team on Sunday foiled a plan to assassinate BJP and RSS leaders by detaining a few suspects from the Malakpet area.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Central Crime Station in October registered a case of criminal conspiracy against Mohammed Abdul Zahed, a Lashkar-E-Taiba (LeT) operative belonging to the Moosarambagh area in Malakpet and other associates identified as Maaz and Samiuddin.

The police have claimed that on the behest of foreign handlers based in Pakistan, the suspects have hatched a criminal conspiracy to eliminate several BJP and RSS leaders and allegedly got explosives to carry out ‘subversive’ activities in the state. The suspects were picked up from their houses in the wee hours of Sunday and they are being interrogated at SIT.

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“On 02.10.2022, specific information received that Abdul Zahed, 39 years old, the resident of Malakpet along with his associates received a consignment of four hand grenades and going to carry out sensational terror attacks in Hyderabad, Telangana. The team acted swiftly and apprehended three persons from Malakpet today,” the police said in a press note.

Zahed whose brother Mohammed Abdul Shahed aka Shahed Bilal, a slain terrorist of Harkat-ul-Jihad-E-Islami was one of the accused in the October 12, 2005, Begumpet Taskforce office suicide bombing case and was acquitted by the court. During the attack a Bangladeshi suicide bomber Moutassim Bilal was killed leaving a home guard dead.

According to the preliminary investigation conducted by the police, Abdul Zahed was previously involved in several terror-related cases in Hyderabad including a suicide attack on the Hyderabad City Police Commissioner’s task force office Begumpet in 2005. He was in regular touch with Pakistani ISI-LeT handlers.

“The Three absconding accused Farhatullah Ghori aka FG, Siddique Bin Osman aka Rafique aka Abu Hamzala, Abdul Majeed aka Chotu, all natives of Hyderabad city have absconded as they were wanted in several terror cases and finally settled in Pakistan and now working under the aegis of ISI. In the past, they recruited local youth and radicalized them, and have executed terror attacks such as a blast near Saibaba Temple Dilsukhnagar in 2002, a bus blast at Ghatkopar, Mumbai, and a suicide attack on Task Force office, Begumpet in 2005. They also attempted to cause blasts near Ganesh Temple, Secunderabad in 2004,” the police said.

The police further said that Adul Zahed in his confession revealed that Farhatulla Ghori, Abu Hamzala, and Majeed revived their contacts with him and they motivated and financed Zahed to recruit and carry out out terror attacks in Hyderabad again.

“At the behest of Pakistan-based handlers, Zahed recruited Samiuddin and Maaz Hasan. During the search, four hand grenades were recovered from the possession of the above persons which Zahed has received from his pak-based handlers. He was planning to hurl these hand grenades targeting public gatherings through his group members, thereby causing terror and communal tension in the city,” the police informed.

“The suspects were under constant surveillance and they were picked up when they were about to carry out to target the BJP leaders,” an SIT official said.

Further investigation is underway and the police might announce the arrest of the suspects soon.

The Police seized two hand grenades, net cash worth Rs: 3,91,800, and 2 mobile phones from Abdul Zahed, one hand grenade, net cash worth Rs 1,50,000 and one mobile phone, one bullet motorcycle from Samiuddin, and one hand grenade, two mobile phones from Maaz Hasan.

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