LeT recruiter Abdul Subhan arrested, claim Delhi cops

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, July 29, 2014:  The Special Cell of the Delhi Police has arrested alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative Abdul Subhan, whose name, as claimed by the police, had cropped up during the interrogation of two Mewat-based Imams. The Imams were arrested in December last year. Police have claimed that they are Lashkar operatives.

Subhan was arrested by a team of Special Cell officers on July 20 while he was about to board a bus at the Sarai Kale Khan Interstate Bus Terminus here. Police sources said that Subhan’s interrogation details are key to identifying the militant outfit’s modules in Rajasthan and Haryana.

Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) S N Shrivastava confirmed Subhan’s arrest but refused to disclose any details.

Police claimed that Subhan had been in touch with Aftab Ansari, convicted in the American Centre terror attack case in Kolkata. Ansari, who was sentenced to death for the terror attack, is presently lodged in a Kolkata jail. The two have also been named by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a 2001 case relating to a huge recovery of RDX, AK 56 rifles and explosives from a truck in Gujarat. Subhan was arrested in 2001 and later sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. He was released after serving eight years in prison.

The sources claimed that Subhan had not changed his ways and had been working for the LeT since his release from prison. He had been evading arrest for the past several months after his alleged role in recruiting young cadres from Mewat was detected by the Special Cell. The two Imams — Mohammed Shahid and Mohammed Rashid — had reportedly told the interrogators that Subhan who had met them in Mewat had brainwashed them into fighting for jihad. He was named a chief conspirator in a chargesheet filed by the Special Cell earlier this year.

Subhan’s interrogation, police claim, has revealed that he was tasked by LeT in Pakistan to visit religious congregations held in places like Mewat and motivate young operatives. “Subhan identified misguided youths who visited such religious congregations and sought advice about their life. He would become friends with the men he believed were potential recruits. He would show them videos and indoctrinate them to fight for jihad. Once the youths were convinced, he would reveal his true identity and then brief them about their plans,” said a police source.

In December, intelligence agencies had intercepted a call between Pakistan-based LeT operative Javed Baluchi and Subhan in which Subhan is allegedly heard discussing a terror attack in coded words and saying ‘char tarikh ko kam ho jayega