A Bangladeshi-British Al-Qaeda operative, who is believed to have come to India to train Rohingya Muslims, was arrested on Sunday evening in East Delhi’s Shakarpur by the Delhi Police’s Special Cell, police said on Monday.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Special Cell, Pramod Singh Kushwah, said, “Initially, the suspect tried to mislead police by claiming that his real name is Shumon Haq. He even showed them a fake voter ID card issued from Kishanganj in Bihar but subsequently, he was identified as Samiun Rahman, alias Raju Bhai, a British national of Bangladeshi origin.”
A proficient hacker who received arms training, Rahman has already radicalised several Rohingyas in Bangladesh during his four-year stint with the terrorist group.
In July this year, Rahman entered India with the objective of setting up base in Mizoram and Manipur to fight for Rohingya Muslims, raise funds and incite youths, said the officer. He visited Delhi frequently for this cause.
During this period, he stayed at various madrasas in Kishanganj (Bihar), Hazaribagh (Jharkhand), NCR and other places.
It is understood that he was in touch with a number of youths, added Kushwah.
The anti-terror unit had been working to gain information about Rahman since July. The sleuths had learnt that one “Raju Bhai” of Al-Qaeda is trying to set up base in Delhi to carry out terrorist activities.
The team of Special Cell deployed sources in the NCR and other States to get information on him.
It was further learnt that “Raju Bhai” is in Delhi and is attempting to recruit people for the purpose of jihad, said the DCP.
On Sunday, the police got a tip-off that “Raju Bhai” would come to Vikas Marg, Shakarpur (near ITO), to meet one of the probable Jihadi recruits, he said.
“A pistol of 9 mm calibre, laptop, mobile phones, $2,000, 13,000 in Bangladeshi currency and Indian rupees were recovered from him,” Kushwah added.
Rahman is a trained terrorist and has visited Morocco, Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Turkey, Syria, Bangladesh apart from India for terrorist activities. He has fought in Syria as a member of Jabhat Al Nusra, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda in Syria, against the Syrian Government forces, added the officer.
He joined Al-Qaeda in 2013 and obtained three-week training in their camp in Syria and fought there till 2014. While he was in Syria, their group came to know about the ‘atrocities’ on Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar.
With his Bangladesh background, he was selected to raise a fighter group. In 2014, he arrived in Bangladesh with the help of one Yasina, a resident of Bangladesh and an old Al-Qaeda cadre, said the officer. Rahman had visited Dhaka and other places and radicalized dozens of youths in Bangladesh for their entry into Myanmar from Chittagong.
However, he was arrested in Bangladesh for terrorist activities in 2014 and after imprisonment of about three years he was released on bail in April this year, said the officer.
Rahman was also involved in cultivating people through Facebook and Telegram app. He was in contact with his outfit members of Syria, including Jawlani and other countries through various chat applications and protected sites.