A 32-year-old man, who is suspected to be a terrorist from Pakistan, was arrested by Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in Mumbai on May 11. The accused, identified as Mirza Faizal Khan, was also produced in court on the same day.
Who is Mirza Faizal Khan?
Khan, who was allegedly planning to assassinate a top politician in Mumbai, had come to India after training at a camp operated by a terror outfit in Pakistan, reported PTI.
"He was called to Pakistan by a person who is wanted in for terrorist activities in Mumbai. The arrested man first went to Sharjah to meet this wanted person where the latter provided him with logistics support," the news agency quoted an official as saying.
"After spending some time in Sharjah, he was sent to Dubai and from there to Karachi. He then attended a training camp there run by a terror outfit," the official added.
He also added that the extremist outfit has the support of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
During interrogations, Khan revealed that the terror group planned to carry out attacks on "public utilities" and crowded places. Besides planting bombs in some parts of the nation, the accused, who has received training as a suicide bomber and in making explosives, had plans to kill a politician from the ruling party of Maharashtra.
"He has been questioned and it is learnt that apart from conducting terror strikes in India, he was also assigned the task of bumping off a senior politician who is in power now," The Times of India quoted a source as saying. Khan was nabbed after the Kolkata Special Task Force (STF) received information about Khan.
"He was picked up after the Kolkata STF got a tip-off about his training. The team kept a watch on his movements and his communication with terror groups on the internet," an ATS source said.
Meanwhile, the police are probing the case and Khan has been remanded to ATS custody till May 21.
