Gujarat: Air hostess allegedly helping ISIS recruits
What's the story
An air hostess allegedly having links with ISIS recruits has been identified by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad.
The air hostess' name reportedly cropped up during the interrogation of two suspected ISIS recruits arrested two days ago from Gujarat's Surat and Ankleshwar.
The alleged recruits were identified as Surat's Ubaid Mirza and Ankleshwar's Kasim Stimberwala. The air hostess is close to Mirza.
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Gujarat ATS official's statement
Based on phone-intercepts between Ubaid and another radicalized youth Zabiullah, an official said: "He categorically says gold smuggling will be done with help of an air hostess. We believe that the smuggling could have been planned in Tamil Nadu, Mumbai or Ahmedabad itself."
Details
Operatives planned to smuggle gold for ISIS operation
Gujarat's Anti-Terrorism Squad officials said the air hostess was supposed to help Mirza, Stimberwala, and other radicalized men to smuggle gold into India, for an ISIS mission.
Ubaid Mirza is a Surat-based lawyer and hotelier while Kasim Stimberwala is an echocardiogram lab technician at a private hospital in Ankleshwar.
Mirza started doing illegal businesses after suffering losses in the hotel business.
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Duo plotted Ahmedabad Synagogue attack
A Gujarat ATS official stated: "He (Ubaid) had attempted to smuggle gold and cigarettes and we (are) probing some persons related to a few ports in Gujarat." Ubaid and Kasim were reportedly planning to attack Jewish Magen Abraham Synagogue in Ahmedabad's Khadia.
Another Woman
Stimberwala's friend Shazia also involved
Gujarat ATS is searching for another woman, Stimberwala's friend Shazia, who is also allegedly involved.
She was supposed to help four other radicalized youths cross over to Bangladesh from Kolkata.
The four men were planning to go to Syria via Bangladesh since 2014.
Shazia told them they could cross the border and meet one Mandole in Bangladesh's Bangoan who will arrange fake passports.
ISIS Recruits
Four men reveal the whole plot
The four youths who were supposed to cross over the Indo-Bangladesh border were nabbed in time before they could escape. It was these men who exposed the whole plan.
They also revealed the role of alleged ISIS recruits Shafi Armar and his Altaf Armar Karnataka's Bhatkal, Shazia and Atiq (alias Ashiq) of Kolkata, and Ubaid and Kasim of Gujarat.