UP ATS arrests six in rail sabotage plot linked to ISI

The Uttar Pradesh (UP) Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested six young men from Shamli district in Western Pradesh for their links with Pakistani handlers. They were allegedly planning to target railway infrastructure in the country. Their identities have not yet been revealed as the investigation is in progress, a police official said.

The UP ATS has launched an intensive crackdown on a suspected terrorist module operating in the hinterland of the State. Several police teams are scouring the length and breadth of the country to apprehend the other members of this module, which was allegedly being run by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan.

Thursday’s arrests follow the arrest earlier this month, when the ATS nabbed four people and foiled a terrorist plot near Charbagh railway station in Lucknow. Identified as Saqib alias Devil (25), a barber from Meerut, was the main operative. Arbaab (20), also from Meerut, Vikas Gehlawat alias Raunak (27) from Gautam Buddh Nagar. Lokesh aka Papla Pandit aks Babu alias Sanju (19), from Gautam Buddh Nagar were other three members of the module.

Saqib had maintained regular links not only with Pakistani handlers but also with radical groups and foreign contacts, including numbers linked to Afghanistan, the police alleged.  

The module’s broader motive, according to police officials, aligned with the avowed objective of Pakistan to Balkanise India, it added.

Their interrogation has revealed that they were planning large scale explosions by targeting railways stations at the behest of ISI and the involvement of more people, according to the police. Their accomplices were identified and well-coordinated raids were conducted in Shamli, which led to the arrest of six people on Thursday, the police claimed.

According to the police, the arrested had conducted detailed recce of the vital installations in cities including Ghaziabad, Aligarh and Lucknow and shared Google location pins, videos and sensitive details with their handlers through social media platforms and were waiting for instructions.

The modules were tasked to attack railway signal boxes and set them on fire, the police claims. Further, that they were also trained via social media platform to setting fire to gas cylinder-laden trucks and targeting public assets and vehicles to spread panic and mayhem and also trigger economic disruption. In order impress their handlers, the UP ATS claims, the members of the module had carried out minor arson acts and videos were sent back to handlers in exchange for payments via QR codes. The forensic experts of the UP ATS are analysing the digital devices recovered from those arrested to trace funding channels, handler identities and the full extent of the network.

Sources say that the evidence recovered from the first four accused involved in the failed terror plot to target Charbagh railway station and their subsequent interrogation, points to a larger network of youths in western Uttar Pradesh, who were being groomed through online social media channels by the ISI to launch attacks in India on their behest. Senior police officials involved in the pan India investigation say more arrests are likely as the ambit of the investigation has been expanded.