Lucknow, Jul 3 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested two members of terror outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH), an auxiliary unit of al-Qaeda, following inputs from intel agencies, an official said.

Those arrested have been identified as Saddam Sheikh, 38, and Rizwan Khan, 23.

Special Director General of Police, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar, said that Saddam who is a native of Gonda, worked as a driver in a company named NTC in Bengaluru.

“During social media monitoring and electronic surveillance, it has surfaced that Saddam Sheikh was self-radicalised and in touch with militants in Pakistan through IMO, which is a proprietary audio/video calling and instant messaging software service,” Kumar added.

Saddam also said that terrorists like Osama bin Laden, Zakir Musa, Riyaz Naikoo, Naved Jatt, Sameer Tiger were his idols and in his phone, photos and videos related to these terrorists have also been recovered, he said.

The other accused Rizwan Khan, a native of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir, was spreading terrorist propaganda on social media platforms. He was currently working as a security guard in Bihar.