NEW DELHI: Eight years after he was declared an absconder by a court in Delhi, Mohammed Usman, a hardened operative of the al-Qaida in Indian subcontinent (AQIS) has been traced in Pakistan, sources say.
Usman is learnt to be lodged in Lahore jail subsequent to his arrest in a criminal case in that country. A routine enquiry from the ministry of external affairs by the Pak govt about a dozen Indian origin inmates and fishermen lodged in different jail led to this discovery and ultimately blew Usman’s cover.
Usman, a resident of Sambhal, had absconded after Delhi Police’s special cell first the first AQIS module in 2015. He was termed a fugitive in 2016 along with other AQIS chiefs Asim Umar aka Sanaul Haq and Farhatullah Ghori besides other operatives identified as Sharjeel Akhtar, Mohammed Arshiyan, Rehan, Shahid Faisal, Umar Hyderabadi and Abu Sufiyan.
A group of arrested AQIS operatives including Mohammad Asif were convicted in 2023. The court had then observed that the prosecution would revive its case against these accused — who have been declared s ‘Proclaimed Offenders’ vide order dated 12.07.2016 — when they are arrested by the police.
The operation against the AQIS module had kicked off after special cell received information that the terrorist outfit was trying to set up its base in India. “The objective is to disturb its peace and tranquility for which its module became active in Western UP, particularly in District Sambhal. The tip was developed and surveillance mounted to ascertain the identity of suspects visiting foreign countries including Iran, Turkey and Pakistan in a suspicious manner,” recalled a senior investigator.
During investigation, the arrested suspects spilled the beans on Usman and others and also revealed the identity of elusive AQIS chief Maulana Asim Umar as Sanaul Haq, a resident of Deepa Sarai in Sambhal.
“One of the accused Zafar Masood had visited Pakistan in November-December, 1999 pretending to be doing the business of ‘Pan/Kattha’ and met Asim Umar at a training camp named Harkat-e-Mujahidin. He returned to India after taking Deeni and Aksari training which pertains to teachings in weaponry and jihadi literature,” the investigator recalled.
Usman later got in touch with Masood in March 2001 and asked him to arrange the sta of two Pakistani militants named Syed Mohammad Hamja and Maqsood Ahmed Ali. The two were apprehended by the police before they could execute their task. Masood and others then lay low and engaged in readying an outfit under the guidance of Abdul Rehman Katki, while playing the role of a sleeper cell. They started to give shapes to their plans in 2014 but were busted less than a year later.
