Gujarat ATS arrests three with links to Islamic State

The Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Gujarat Police said they have arrested three persons with alleged links to international terror group Islamic State-Khorasan Province from the coastal city of Porbandar.

The arrests were carried out Friday morning.

The ATS said they acted on a tip off and arrested the men-identified as Ubed Nasir Mir, Hannan Hayat Shol and Mohammad Hajim Shah, all residents of Kashmir-from Porbandar Railway Station. During questioning, the men confessed that they were radicalised by their handler, Abu Hamza, and joined ISKP.

The ATS said the three men intended to reach Afghanistan via Iran. They were planning to take the sea route from Porbandar.

The men were asked to reach Porbandar, join fishing boats as crew and reach a rendezvous point pre-determined through GPS codes by using the captain of the boat, the ATS said. Thereafter they were to be picked up by cargo boats and taken to Iran, where fake passports were to be given to them. They were to then reach Khorasan and join the terror group.

The ATS said they recovered identity documents, mobile phones, tablets and knives from them. A search into their cloud spaces revealed audio files containing their declaration of migration to Khorasan, videos of the men claiming their allegiance to ISKP and their photographs with ISKP flags, etc.