Author: Neeta Sharma
Publication: Hindustan Times
Date: February 19, 2002
Large Caches of arms and ammunition
have been seized from two madrassas in Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh and
Surat in Gujarat. Sleuths have zeroed in on a third madrassa in UP that
is believed to be storing arms.
The seizures were made following
the interrogation of six people arrested in connection with the attack
on the American Center.
Working on leads, the sleuths zeroed
in on Assad, son of the mufti of Surat's Jamia Islamia Talimuddin madrassa,
and a key figure in the smuggling network. Two of Assad's henchmen, Inam
ul Haq and Mohammed Hussain, were detained.
A massive arms cache was recovered
from Assad's room in the madrassa, a Crime Branch source said. There were
30 pistols, 4 detonators, 4 ABCD timers, 2.2 kg of RDX and 2 kg of PETN,
7 magazines and 97 rounds of ammunition.
Assad, who for a time received weapons
training in Pakistan, had been motivated into taking up jehad by Mufti
Kifayatullah of the Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami, the source said. The Mufti
has considerable influence over the functioning of several madrassas in
India. The madrassas often serve as terrorist safe houses.
During interrogation, Assad disclosed
that he had in turn motivated Asrar, a student at Saharanpur's Mujahid-ul
Ulum madrassa, for jehad. A pistol and 14 live cartridges were recovered
from Asrar's room.
"Assad and Asrar have disclosed
the location of a second madrassa in UP where another huge cache of arms
could be lying," the source said.
IB sources say the economics of
most Indian madarssas are unknown to Indian security agencies. "The madarssa
where Assad was arrested spends nearly Rs 7 crore annually Nobody knows
where the money comes from."
