The interrogation of two suspected terrorists caught in the Pune city of Maharashtra has made many shocking revelations. The accused were planning to carry out a blast by placing explosives in a bike in Pune city. For this, they were doing a recce of crowded and sensitive areas of Pune through drones. They also wanted to carry out bomb blasts in Jaipur. Information about the whereabouts and other frequented places of these terrorists in Pune is being collected. A search is on for one of their absconding accomplices.
On 18th July 2023, Pune police arrested two suspected terrorists Mohammad Imran Mohammad Yusuf Khan and Mohammad Yunus Mohammad Yakub Saki for their alleged involvement in a terror case in Rajasthan. The suspected terrorists were on the “most wanted” list of the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has taken over the probe.
Mohammed Yusuf Khan, 23, and Mohammed Yunus Mohammed Yakub Saki, 24, are both residents of Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh. The police are looking for their accomplice, Mohammed Shahnawaz Shafiurrehman Alam, 31, who managed to flee while being taken for a house search.
They were arrested for attempting to steal a motorcycle, but later during the probe, it was found that they were involved in the terror group Al-Sufa. It was also found that NIA has announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh on their capture.
Around 2.45 a.m., a patrolling squad from the Kothrud police station, consisting of constables Pradeep Chavan and Amol Nazan, noticed the three men stealing a two-wheeler. After a chase, the cops nabbed them.
At the Kothrud police station, an FIR was filed against them under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Indian Arms Act, and the Maharashtra Police Act. According to the police, the accused stayed in an apartment in Chetna Garden, Mitha Nagar, Kondhwa. Both Khan and Saki are graphic artists from Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, and Alam is from Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.
Police teams searched their Pune residence and found several suspicious items, including a box containing “drone material,” a pistol pouch, a live cartridge, some “white coloured pills,” fake Aadhaar cards, and various other documents. A Pune court remanded the two suspected terrorists to the custody of Pune city police till July 25 for further investigation.
The two fled Ratlam after learning that their names had surfaced in the investigation into the terror case in which some suspected Al-Sufa members had been arrested by Rajasthan police in Ratlam. It is worth recalling that in March this year, Rajasthan police’s ATS and Special Operation Group (SOG) recovered 12 kg of explosives and material used in assembling explosive devices from the Chittorgarh district. Three suspected terrorists—Zubair, Altamas, and Saifullah belonging to the Al-Sufa terrorist group were arrested.
NIA had filed a Chargesheet against Imran Khan and 10 other accused persons on 22nd September 2022 after exposing the terror plot. NIA has said that ‘Sufa’ is deeply inspired by the activities of ISIS and is inclined toward the Jihadi ideology. Members of ‘Sufa’ had motivated other youths also to join this group for carrying out terror acts.
