Probe Agency NIA Attaches Lucknow Home Of Al-Qaeda Terrorist

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) attached a house in Uttar Pradesh as "proceeds of terrorism" after discovering that it was being used by an active member of the terror organisation Al-Qaeda and Ansar Gazwat-ul-Hind to prepare for terror attacks, the agency said.

The accused, Minhaj Ahmed, was using the property (house no. 602/400) in Lucknow's Adnanpalli area to carry out terror-related activities, including making Improvised Explosive Devices and petrol bombs, for attacks in the state.

The property is registered in the name of Minhaj's father Siraj Ahmad and grandmother and uncle.

The NIA, which attached the property on Monday, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, found that Minhaj Ahmed had been working closely with Adil Nabi Teli alias Musa, a terrorist affiliated with TRF (an offshoot of the Laskhar-e-Taiba). Musa was killed in an encounter with Security forces on March 16, 2022.

Investigations by the NIA in a case related to the radicalisation and the recruitment of members for AQIS (Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent) led the agency to Minhaj's connections with Musa.
The NIA said it had found Minhaj provided funds to the co-accused to carry out violent Jihadist activities in Kashmir.

"The accused procured raw materials and components to make an IED in a pressure cooker, which was recovered from the property attached on Monday," the NIA said.

As per the anti-terror agency, Minhaj Ahmed also prepared a sample IED using materials in small quantities and carried out a controlled explosion on the roof of the same house.

Further, the agency found that Minhaj recorded a tutorial on making IEDs, and their controlled explosions, and sent it to Musa.

"Minhaj also made a petrol bomb and shared a tutorial with Musa. He procured a pistol and live ammunition, and hid it in his room on the first floor of the house that has been seized."

The case was initially registered on July 11, 2021, by the Anti-Terror Squad of Lucknow but it was taken over and re-registered by the NIA on July 29, 2021.

The NIA has so far arrested and chargesheeted six peopel in the case.