Delhi Police have arrested a 32-year-old man from Haryana's Mewat district, suspected to be a key operative of al Qaeda who allegedly received arms training in Pakistan, making it the fifth arrest in its ongoing operation against the terror outfit.
"The accused, Abdul Sami, was arrested by Delhi Police's Special Cell from Nuh town in Mewat yesterday. He was brought here and produced before a court which remanded him in police custody till February 1," Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Arvind Deep said today.
Sami, a native of Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, was allegedly mentored by Abdul Rahman, a madrassa cleric who was arrested from Jagatpur area of Cuttack in Odisha, in December by a Special Cell team, said a senior police official.
Rahman's arrest was the second in the ongoing operation. So far the police have identified three persons whom Rahman had inducted in al Qaeda's module in the Indian sub-continent (AQIS) and sent for training.
While Sami has been arrested, the other two -- identified as Abu Sufian and Umar Hyderabadi -- are still believed to be in Pakistan, said the official.
He further said, Sami left for Dubai in January 2014, he stayed there for a month before moving to Karachi. From there, he went to Mansehra, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, where he received training in handling AK 47 and light machine guns.
Sami's movements were being coordinated by a handler, identified as Yusuf, from Pakistan.
During interrogation, it had earlier emerged that Yusuf was also in touch with Mohammed Asif, who is believed to be one of the founding members and the head (amir) of AQIS's motivation, recruitment and training wing and Abdul Rahman, the official said.
Asif's was the first arrest in the operation. He was nabbed from Seelampur in northeast Delhi, followed by the arrests of Rahman and alleged financier of the module, Zafar Masood, arrested from mohalla Deepa Sarai in UP's Sambhal district in December 2015.
On January 6, the Special Cell had arrested Maulana Anzar Shah, a cleric from Bangalore, for alleged links with AQIS. He was allegedly asked provide logistical support whenever the need arose, police said.
They were all booked under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
