THE SILENT TECHIE, LOGISTICS MAN & HAWALA ROUTER OF INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN ARRESTED
THE SILENT TECHIE, LOGISTICS MAN & HAWALA ROUTER OF INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN ARRESTED; THE MYSTERY BEHIND INFLAMMATORY IM E-MAILS OF PAST CRACKED
New Delhi: The Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested Ajaz Shaikh, aged 27 yrs, r/o GhorpadePeth, Pune, Maharashtra, a key Indian Mujahidin operative who was the ‘silent’ India based techie, logistics man and hawala router of the banned terrorist organization.
In spite of the busting of one after another modules of the outfit and the recent arrests of Yasin Bhatkal, Tehsin Akhtar, Assadullah Akhtar, Waqas and other top terrorists, the one mystery that had remained unsolved was regarding the identity of the person who had sent the blood curdling e-mails announcing the nefarious intents of this terrorist organisation after the Varanasi serial blasts and the Jama Masjid terrorist strikes. The arrest of all the actual executioners of these terrorist strikes could not lead the Police teams of various States investigating these cases anywhere near to the person who had sent the e-mails in question. All investigations into this aspect had consistently hit a dead end with the growing realization amongst the security agencies that the perpetrator was technically super-smart and had practically left no trace of his identity while espousing the nefarious claims of IM before the national media. The arrest of Ajaz Shaikh has finally unravelled the mystery behind the claim made on behalf of IM after the infamous Jama Masjid terror strikes of 2010.
Besides sending e-mails, Ajaz used to provide logistics to the IM operatives in India and prepared fake Ids required by the IM operatives in procuring SIM Cards, collecting WUMT money transfers, obtaining rooms on rent and even in getting enrolled in professional educational institutions as a cover.
Operation: The Special Cell of Delhi has arrested 10 terrorists, including Qateel Siddiqui for their involvement in the Jama Masjid strike cases. It had also been relentlessly pursuing all available leads which could help in fixing the identity of the person who was behind the e-mails sent under the signatures of ‘Al Arabi’ claiming the strikes as being executed by the IM and warning of many more to follow. Years of painstaking collation of data led the team to some suspected identities, who, though working directly under the command of its Pakistan based Bhatkal brothers, were otherwise apparently ‘unknown’ to the so far arrested Indian as well as Pakistani operatives. All the efforts bore fruit when a source information was received on 5th September 2014 that one suspected IM operative, who is closely linked to the absconding Riyaz Bhatkal and Mohsin Chowdhary and whose name has not been so far revealed in any of the numerous cases being investigated/tried against the members of this organization, will be arriving in Saharanpur in UP. This information was developed and in the intervening night of 5th& 6th September 2014, suspect Ajaz Shaikh was apprehended from near the Railway Station, Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh on the pointing out of the deployed source when he had de-boarded a train coming from Moradabad.
Preliminary Interrogation: In his preliminary interrogation, accused Ajaz Shaikh has disclosed that it was his close association with absconding terrorist Mohsin Chaudhary, who happens to be a cousin brother as well as real brother-in-law of the accused, which had led to his joining the IM. After the Batla House encounter of 2008, when IM operatives were being arrested in various states, Mohsin Chaudhary had disappeared along with Riyaz and Iqbal, the Bhatkal brothers and some IM members of the Azamgarh module. They eventually reached Pakistan where they were provided with safe haven and since then, activities of IM are being orchestrated from this foreign land under the patronage of ISI. Ajaz, then a young member of IM, stayed back in India as directed by Mohsin Chaudhary and Riyaz Bhatkal, who wanted to have undercover and unexposed contacts back at home who could be utilized to further the objectives of their terrorist organization. Ajaz was told to master the use of computers and get tech savvy while pursuing an apparently normal life. Ajaz, who had already undergone a diploma course in hardware, networking and Linux operation, soon got himself thoroughly acquainted with the latest in Information & Communications Technology and simultaneously started working in a BPO firm at Pune to maintain his cover of a normal lifestyle.
The first task entrusted to Ajaz by the absconding chiefs of IM was to assist Yasin Bhatkal in the execution of the German Bakery blasts of February 2010. In this strike, Ajaz played the facilitating role of arranging a mobile handset, SIM card and the rented accommodation near Bharti Vidyapeeth, Pune, which were used by Yasin Bhatkal in fabricating the IEDs and executing the blasts. Ajaz had recceed various probable blast sites along with Yasin and was instrumental in the finalization of German Bakery site as it was considered to be of maximum impact potential in line with the objectives of IM.
After the German Bakery blasts, Ajaz played the role of devils’ messenger in the Jama Masjid strikes of 19th September 2010. Using expert technological cover, Ajaz had sent the blood curdling e-mail to various Indian media houses shortly after the strikes claiming the act to be of IM and as a revenge for Batla House encounter. The draft of the mail, which had been prepared by Riyaz Bhatkal and his associates in Pakistan, was received by Ajaz in advance of the strikes and, as directed by the seniors in IM, was mailed to Indian media houses after the strikes had been executed. Extensive use of technical camouflaging was resorted to while sending the mail and therefore, even the best efforts of Indian security agencies had so far proved futile in tracking down this terror operative.
The successful experiment of Jama Masjid strikes was repeated in the Sheetla Ghat, Varanasi strikes of 7th December 2010. On this occasion again, it was Ajaz who had sent the e-mail espousing the claim of IM to media houses. On this occasion too, the draft e-mail had been received by him in advance of the actual strike and higher technical finesse was shown in sending the mail by using an open WiFi network of Mumbai for the same which left no trace of the identity of the network user. Ajaz had now become a firm favourite with the IM and his reputation in the IM hierarchy as the next Mansoor Ali Peerbhoy (another IM tech savvy IM operative; currently in jail) increased manifold.
It was decided by the IM top leaders that Ajaz should be used exclusively as the logistics provider for the IM operatives in India and his skills at Adobe Photoshop/Corel Draw/Microsoft Paint applications was to be used in preparing fake Ids required by the IM operatives in procuring SIM Cards, collecting WUMT money transfers, obtaining rooms on rent and even in getting enrolled in professional educational institutions as a cover.
Since 2011, Ajaz had been the single point solution for preparing and supplying fake Ids and for obtaining and routing hawala money to terrorists like Asadullah Akhter @ Haddi, Tehsin Akhter @ Monu and Zia-ur-Rehman @ Waqas (all since arrested). The status of Ajaz in the IM hierarchy can be gauged from the fact that all the above named top terrorists had only one colleague-contact whom they used to physically meet on occasions for their various needs and who was otherwise leading a perfectly normal city-going life of a BPO employee, married and family oriented.
The arrest of Yasin Bhatkal had unsettled Ajaz and when the Maharashtra Police had taken Yasin Bhatkal to Mumbai and Pune for the investigations of the cases registered there, he had got restless as he feared that Yasin could spill the beans and disclose his identity. Fearingarrest he left Pune and sought refuge in Nepal. He used to frequently change his hideout. Acting on specific information he was apprehendedin the night intervening 5th and 6th September, 2014 as he left the Railway Station, after his rail-travel to Saharanpur from Moradabad, to find a place of stay for the night. The reason for his visit to Saharanpur is being investigated. From his personal search, electronic devices, such as, pen drives, SIM cards, mobile phones, data cards etc have been recovered.
Accused Ajaz Shaikh has been arrested in case FIR No. 54/11 of Police Station Special Cell and his Police Custody remand is being requested from the Hon’ble Court to further proceed with the investigation.
DY.COMMISSIONER OF POLICE:
SPECIAL CELL, DELHI.
OUTER DISTRICT Dated: 06.09.2014
Source:Delhi Police (PR CELL)