A suspected ISIS terrorist was arrested from Smriti Nagar, Bhilai after the 24-hour-long search operation here in the poll-bound Chhattisgarh. After the arrest he was handed over to the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) team, arriving here from Jhansi, UP. The timing of arrest is very crucial given the fact that the poll-bound Chhattisgarh will soon have second phase of elections on 70 seats for which there is influx of star campaigners including PM Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Congress National President Rahul Gandhi and many others from BJP, Congress and other political parties. Alarming is the confession of the arrested ISIS operative that he is staunch supporter of ISIS ideology and also its propagandist and his visit to Chhattisgarh, although brief, is seen as a challenging task for both intelligence and security agencies. Police sources informed that the suspected ISIS terrorist was identified as Wazziuddin Idrish (34), son of Wahiuddin Idrish, a resident of Firdaus Nagar, Aligarh (UP) and he was staying here at Smriti Nagar, Bhilai. The police said that on Tuesday late evening, in the joint operation Durg police along with ATS, Jhansi (UP) successfully arrested the suspected ISIS terrorist Wazziuddin from Smriti Nagar, Bhilai. After the arrest he was handed over to the ATS squad’s custody for due court procedure.

 

Police further said that after his arrest Wazziuddin admitted that he is a hardliner supporter of ISIS ideology and also its campaigner. The police also said that Wazziuddin has a direct link with Mohammed Rizwan, the active ISIS member arrested by Delhi police. He was wanted in the offence registered against him under section 122 (1), 122 of Indian Penal Code and sections 13, 18, 18 (L) and 38 of Unlawful Activities Act 1967. Vishwadeepak Triapthi, CSP Bhilai Nagar Police Subdivision informed that Wazziuddin, the suspected ISIS terrorist was staying here for few days to attend the marriage ceremony at his relatives’ place. In the meantime ATS, Jhansi team managed to track his pinpoint location and arrested him successfully in coordination with Durg police team. He also added that no arms and ammunition or the literature was recovered from his possession. Meanwhile, security experts feel that the fresh development pertaining to the arrest of an ISIS operative from Chhattisgarh is indeed a matter of grave concern. For reasons, ISIS in the past has been exposed to hatching conspiracies for launching attacks on PM Modi, albeit the security agencies have foiled all their nefarious designs.

 

Moreover, all previous years inputs from various quarters have suggested that a high degree of threat perception still persists, which could have a direct bearing on VVIPs visiting Chhattisgarh. For many, it may come as a shocker that the suspected ISIS operative, Wazziuddin Idrish, is a PhD degree holder in Public Administration from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), but he exploited this academic virtue for connecting people with banned terror outfit ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). For this nefarious purpose, the ISIS suspect used the guise of SAMU (Students of Aligarh Muslim University). The baffling disclosure came from Uttar Pradesh Police. “The name of Wazziuddin surfaced during the grilling of two ISIS suspects, Abdullah Arsalan (26) and Maaz Bin Tariq (25) on Monday. “The two accused have been alleged of planning terror activities across the state and are currently in six-day police custody remand of the UP ATS,” the UP Police maintained. UP Police Special DG (Law and Order), Prashant Kumar told the media persons in Lucknow that Wazziuddin, who is actively associated with the banned terrorist organisation ISIS, was conspiring to cause a major terror incident as per the instructions of his handler. “He used to train innocents under his influence for jihad,” Kumar added.