The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested three Muslims working in the jewellery-making industry of Rajkot for links with the Islamic terror outfit Al Qaeda. The three men were picked up by an ATS team on Monday morning and were formally arrested late in the night. The trio hailed from West Bengal and worked at a gold market in Rajkot city

“Shukra Ali, Shaif Nawaz, and Aman Malik were detained yesterday and arrested. Nawaz has been in Rajkot for the last two years, while the other two have been here for the last seven to eight months. While the first two are from Bardhaman district, the third is from Hooghly,” Superintendent of Police, ATS, Om Prakash Jat, told the media.

The Bangladesh-based Al Qaeda handler inspired Malik for the cause of jihad and hijrat and asked him to inspire others to join their ideology. Malik got in touch with Shukra Ali and Shaif Nawaz, who shared the same fundamentalist mindset and agreed to work for the outfit, Jat said.

Their interrogation has revealed that Malik has been using the Telegram app for the last one year to keep in touch with a foreign handler, who was the head of Al Qaeda in Bangladesh, the official said. Malik was entrusted with the task of inspiring others to join the terrorist organisation, and he used two messaging apps to receive ‘radical’ literature, videos, and training on how to use automatic weapons, he added.

“A country-made semi-automatic pistol, ten rounds of cartridges, five mobile phones with ‘radical’ materials, an encrypted messaging app, and other free messaging apps, as well as materials on how to use automatic and semi-automatic weapons were all recovered from the accused and the materials have been sent for forensic examination,” the official said.