Sarjoo Katkar and Soumya Menon/ENS
Bangalore, May 17: In an instance of unusual promptness, just 24 hours after the serial blasts in Jaipur, Karnataka police have arrested a man in Belgaum suspected to have links to the Jaipur blasts.
Liyakat Ali Abdul Gani Sayyed (32), a native of Mahantesh Nagar in Belgaum, is suspected to be a staunch Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activist, also active in banned outfit, Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami (HuJI).
Sayyed went to London in 1998 and started a security agency there. He was there for 10 years. He was asked to leave the country by the London police, who suspected him of fundamentalist indoctrination of Muslim youth.
He came to India on March 18, 2008. He is married to a British national and has two children, who are staying in London. Police sources said that he might have had a hand in the blast at the Hubli court one week ago.
Police have also arrested a petty shop owner, Imtiyaz (28), of Ashok Nagar, who was a friend of Sayyed.
The Raid and Arrest
Police said Sayyed was nabbed at 2.30 pm on Wednesday, after they received information that he was in possession of some provocative CDs meant to indoctrinate Muslim youth.
Malmaruti police station inspector and staff raided house number 7737/18 at Khushru Nagar, Belgaum, and seized one laptop, one handy camera, four mobile phones, 32 CDs, and seven books containing ‘jehadi’ literature dealing with topics like guns and global terrorism.
Police said Sayyed had rented a house in Khushru Nagar. His parents live in their own house in Mahantesh Nagar.
Jehadi Material Seized
The seized CDs contained videos of atrocities on Muslims during the Gujarat riots, shots from Kashmir, the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the attack on the World Trade Centre.
Few of the CDs contained information about manufacturing sophisticated weapons including AK 47 and 56, and preparing bombs and other explosives. The ‘jehadi’ books are in English and Arabic.
Malmaruti police have booked Sayyed under sections 153 (A), 465, 473, 476, 109 and 511 of the Indian Penal Code.