Gujarat ATS apprehends 4 Sri Lankans suspected to be ISIS members at Ahmedabad airport

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Monday arrested four suspected ISIS terrorists from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad. ATS said that the suspects, all Sri Lankan citizens, allegedly wanted to carry out terror activities, with the help of their Pakistan handler, by targeting BJP and RSS leaders for 'atrocities against Muslims'.

The arrested persons have been identified as Mohammed Nusrath Gani, 33, Mohammed Nafran, 27, Mohammed Faris, 35, and Mohammed Rasdin, 43. Addressing the media, Gujarat Director General of Police, Vikas Sahai, said that the four suspects are "active and highly radicalised members of banned terrorist organisation Islamic State (IS)."

Deputy Superintendent of Police, ATS, Harsh Upadhyay had received intelligence input that "four terrorists were likely to reach Ahmedabad by train or air on May 18 or 19 to carry out terrorist activities."

Teams of ATS officers kept a watch and found out that the four were traveling by air from Chennai, where they had reached from Colombo. Since they knew only Tamil, the police had to seek help from a translator to question them.

During questioning, Sahai said, the four revealed that they were being aided by their Pakistani handler, identified only as Abu. "Abu gave Rs 4 lakh in Sri Lankan currency to the four suspects to carry out terror activities," said. He said that from the cell phone's gallery of the suspects, ATS found many photos which had images of geo-coordinates of weapons hidden in Ahmedabad's Nana Chiloda area.

"Abu had sent them photos of weapons, its location including geo coordinates through proton drive and proton mail and list of targets. Following the information, the ATS officials claimed to have found three pistols from a pink colour parcel and a black flag from a location in Nana Chioda area. The pistols bear star marks but their serial numbers have been deliberately removed so that its origin can't be traced," ATS said in a press note.

Seized weapons

From the parcel, ATS also found 20 rounds of magazine on which FATA is written. "Prima facie, the three pistols are Norinco Type 54 model and ammunition is made of Pakistan's erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) while the black flag is of IS," the note said.

The suspects told ATS officials that in the past they were members of another radical militant outfit 'National Thowheed Jamath', which was banned following Easter Bombing in April 2019, which killed over 250 people. In February 2024, they came in contact with Pakistan-based IS handler Abu and were radicalised.

They have been booked under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Arms Act, and sections of 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (A) (wage war against government of India), among other charges.