Ahmedabad: The four Sri Lankan nationals linked with the terror-outfit, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), who were arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) at the Ahmedabad Airport on Sunday night, have exposed the Pakistani link behind the terror conspiracy in India. During the interrogation, the 4 terror-suspects revealed that they were undergoing training since February and carried out recce 8 times to ensure carry out terror activities in India. The terror suspects have reportedly disclosed several secrets about their Pakistani handler namely Abu Bakr during the interrogation.

As per the sources, one of the four terrorists stated that he used to gain entry into India by pretending to be a cloth merchant. During his stay in the country, he used to collect information about various locations to carry out an attack and pass it on to Abu Waqar in Pakistan.

Terrorists were waiting for command from their Pakistani handler to carry out terror activities

The 4 terrorists also disclosed that they were waiting for the command from their Pakistan-based handler to carry out an attack in India. It is being said that the suspected IS terrorists told the investigators that their Pakistan-based handler was going to give them the exact location and time to carry out the attack.

Not only this, the location to collect the weapons was also kept secret and they were waiting for the command from their handler. The arrested four Sri Lankan nationals were to execute terrorist activities at the behest of the Islamic State.

The four accused were identified as Mohammad Nusrat (35), Mohammad Faarukh (35), Mohammad Nafran (27) and Mohammad Rasdeen (43). They had taken a flight from Colombo and reached Chennai on Sunday morning and took another flight to Ahmedabad, where they were arrested on secret intelligence.

The terrorists were booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Arms Act.

After the arrest, the Gujarat ATS had also recovered three pistols and cartridges abandoned at a location in Ahmedabad on the basis of geo coordinates found on a mobile phone seized from their possession.

According to a senior police official of the Gujarat ATS, during the interrogation so far, the arrested terror suspects have refused to reveal as to where exactly they were planning to carry out the terrorist attack. “All they have said so far is that their handler was going to inform them about the exact location and time of the target after they collected the weapons," he added.

Terror suspects are on 14-day police remand

Earlier, the terrorists were sent into a 14-day police remand by a court and are being interrogated by the Gujarat ATS and other central agencies.

The probe agency was also questioning them to find out about the persons who were supposed to help them in India in meeting their objectives. Meanwhile, the forensic extraction of data of the phone devices recovered from the terrorists is also underway. It is being said that details are being sought from the communication applications found on their mobile phones, through which they stayed in touch with their Pakistani handler.