The Underworld, created and controlled by gangster Dawood Ibrahim, is believed to be behind the recruitment of the six men, who were part of the Pakistan-backed terror module busted in a multi-state operation on Tuesday. Top intel sources told CNN-News18 that the Underworld or D-Company, as it’s popularly known, was under pressure from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which considered the former to be a non-performing asset.
According to sources, Chota Shakeel and Anees Ibrahim, who is Dawood Ibrahim’s brother, were asked by the ISI “to do something”, and under pressure, Anees Ibrahim began recruiting the men for the module. The D-Company, in a bid to salvage their reputation, deployed Anees Ibrahim to hire members for the module, sources added.
Sources further said the idea was to create a terror like the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, adding that it was a highly-secretive operation.
One of the arrested men, Jaan Mohammad Shaikh, alias Sameer Kaliya, a radicalised youth from Sion in Mumbai, was recruited from his hometown, and was the first to be arrested. Sources said this is a new modus operandi adopted by Pak-ISI to train radicalised Indian youth. Sources added that another accused Osama, alias Sami, told the probe agencies about their training in Pakistan on Tuesday.
Intel sources also said that the arrest of the six men, made jointly by Delhi and UP Police forces, were possibly linked to the Punjab tiffin bomb case in August. Punjab was put on high alert after police claimed to have busted a major terror plot with the recovery of the tiffin bomb, along with five hand grenades and 100 pistol cartridges near a drain at Daleke village in Lopoke sub-division of Amritsar.
The six men, including two terrorists, were arrested from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Maharashtra. The arrests revealed the nexus between Pak-ISI and the Underworld in coordinating terror activities. The module wanted to target large congregations in major cities during the upcoming festive season, sources said.
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Source: News18