Prashant Kumar, the Additional Director General of Police said that the two residents of Lucknow, Minhaz Ahmed and Maseeruddin, were planning to unleash terror activities before the Independence day.
The two operatives of Al Qaeda linked Ansar Ghazwatul Hind were arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police. It had been said by the ATS that the two arrested men, Minhaz Ahmed and Maseeruddin, had planned explosions, including the use of human bombs at several places in the state.
The Police had mentioned that Ahmed was a resident of Lucknow’s Dubagga Area, and Maseeruddin lived in Madiyaon area of Lucknow. Prashant Kumar said that a huge amount of explosives were seized from the houses of the two men.
Prashant Kumar further added that Ahmed and Maseeruddin were planning to unleash terror activities before August 15 in various cities of the state, including Lucknow. The members of this module were not only from Lucknow but were also from Kanpur.
The ADGP Prashant Kumar also said that the two accused were working under the instructions of Umar Halmandi, the head of the Uttar Pradesh module of Al-Qaeda.
Raids were conducted at different places by the ATS to catch the associates of the two terrorists who had escaped before Ahmed and Maseeruddin were arrested.
The accused Al-Qaeda operatives would be produced before the court and would be taken into a police custody afterwards.
The ATS recovered two semi-prepared IED- based pressure cooker bombs, explosive materials and pistol from the house of Ahmed and was now sealed under custody.
The police has intensified the checking at Uttar Pradesh, including the checking at airports, highways and bus stations.