B’lore madrassa teacher arrested for links with al-Qaeda

NEW DELHI: A madrassa teacher from Bangalore has been arrested by Delhi Police for suspected links with al-Qaeda, making it the fourth arrest in its ongoing operation against the terror outfit.

Maulana Anzar Shah was arrested in Bangalore by a team of Delhi Police’s Special Cell on Wednesday following which he was brought to Delhi on transit remand and produced before a court yesterday which sent him to police custody till January 20, said a police official.

In December, Delhi Police had arrested three suspected operatives of al-Qaeda module in the India sub-continent (AQIS).

While Mohammed Asif (41), the first one to be arrested, is believed to be one of the founding members and the Indian head (amir) of AQIS’s motivation, recruitment and training wing, was held from Seelampur in northeast Delhi, another operative Abdul Rahman (37) was arrested from Jagatpur area of Cuttack in Odisha.

The third arrest, Zafar Masood, allegedly acted as a financier      for the module. He was arrested from mohalla Deepa Sarai in UP’s Sambhal district. They were all booked under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Shah, the latest arrest in connection with the module, had met Mohammed Asif at a religious congregation in Bangalore, following which he was introduced to Abdul Rahman and Zafar Masood.(Agencies)