AP: 4 youths held with jihadi literature

The Hyderabad Police on Saturday arrested four suspects for possessing jihadi literature and compact discs.

They were booked on charges of waging war against the State. With this, the number of persons arrested since September 5 goes up to 14. 

Gopalpuram police arrested the accused based on the confession of Abdul Sattar, an alleged ISI agent, who is in judicial custody. Mohammed Abdul Kareem (aged 24 years) of Tadbun locality, Mohammed Abdul Wajid (25) and Abdul Wahi (23) of Kalapather and Dr Ibrahim Ali Junaid (24) of Chandrayangutta were taken into custody while they were moving under suspicious circumstances at Secunderabad Railway station.

They were found to be in possession of four CDs with jihadi content, the police said.  

During interrogation by the Special Investigation Team, the accused confessed that they had aided and abetted Abdul Sattar. They were also suspected of involvement in the conspiracy to attack Ganesh temple at Secunderabad in 2004. However, the police had unearthed the plot beforehand and arrested some of the other suspects in 2004 itself.

The accused were produced at the Secunderabad Court and remanded to judicial custody for a fortnight.

Incidentally, the City Police announced the arrests of these four persons after the parents of several youth filed habeas corpus petitions in the state High Court, alleging that their sons were untraceable after they were apparently picked up SIT of the City Police after the twin bomb blasts on August 25 in the city that claimed 42 lives.

The petitioners expressed fears that the police might be subjecting their sons to third degree torture and sought directions to the police to produce them in the court. 

A division bench of the High Court, comprising Justices A Gopal Reddy and P Swarup Reddy, on September 6, had issued notices to the state government, the Director-General of Police, Hyderabad City Police Commissioner, SIT and the Station House Officers of the police stations concerned and directed them to file their replies within a week.
  
Earlier, on September 5 and 6, as many as 10 persons were arrested by SIT for possessing jihadi literature and their involvement in alleged terror plots in 2004. The police had recovered 14 compact discs containing jihadi content from them. They were also charged with waging war against the State and cheating by acquiring SIM cards with false identities.

They were produced in the 12th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court on September 6 and remanded to a fortnight's judicial custody. 

The arrested persons included Mohammed Fareeduddin, a degree student of a corporate college, Mohammed Siajuddin, a sofa maker, and Syed Imran of Asmangadh. The trio were held on the charge of attempting to recruit other youngsters for terrorist training. The police said that the trio interacted online with Mohammed Shahid Bilal, Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami chief for South India and mastermind behind the blasts at Mecca Masjid, Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat eatery, and possessed vital details about his activities and
movements.

Seven other arrested persons -- Maqsood Ahmed, Arshad Khan, Mohammed Naseeruddin, Shaik Fareed, Abdul Rawoof, Aslam Siddique and Mohammed Abdul Raheem -- were charged with aiding and abetting an ISI agent Abdul Sattar. The police said that the accused had acted on the directions of Mohammed Khaja and Mohammed Khader, both associates of Shahid Bilal.

The police had announced the arrests of these 10 accused after their families had alleged that they were picked up by City Police Task Force teams and were being held in illegal detention at places on the outskirts of the city.