Bhubaneswar: Two days after Kendrapara man Habibur Rahman alias Habib was arrested by National Investigation Agency (NIA) for his alleged terror links with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) from New Delhi airport, Twin City Police Commissioner Satyajit Mohanty today said that the Odisha Police is ready to lend any support NIA seeks for investigation of the case.
“After we came to know about the arrest, Odisha’s Special Task Force (STF) team of Crime Branch contacted the NIA and extended support in form of information regarding Habib’s relatives here,” said Mohanty.
Soon after Habib’s arrest, Patkura and Kendrapara police reached his native house at Tendaguda village on Monday evening and interrogated his family members.
Family members of Habib informed the police that he was not in touch with them since 2006 and should be punished, if found involved in any terror activities.
“He left home thirty years ago. He was initially staying in Mumbai and then left for Saudi Arabia. When I went to Saudi in 2004 for pilgrimage, he came and met me there. In 2006, he even came home with one of his two wives and his children. After that, we have not been in touch, neither does he help us in any way,” Habib's father Mir Rahinuddin said.
“If he has done anything anti-national he should be punished according to the law and I should be too if I am found guilty in any manner,” stated Mir adding that they have no idea how and why Habib came in touch with anti-social elements in Saudi Arabia.
Habib was based in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and arrested from IGI Airport in New Delhi yesterday by the NIA officials. Meanwhile, the NIA is likely to take Habib on remand to elicit more information regarding his terror links.
“About six months ago, the NIA officials had called us to Patkura for interrogation. They sleuths had also summoned us to meet them in New Delhi. They asked us to depose before them wherever required and I assured to co-operate.”
“Habib came home in 2006 on my marriage. After that we are not in contact,” he added.
According to reports, Habib was one of the handlers of LeT terrorist Shaikh Abdul Naeem alias Nomi, who was arrested in 2007 while trying to infiltrate two Pakistani and one Kashmiri terrorist into India via Bangladesh. Later in August 2014, Nomi managed to escape from custody while being taken for court attendance to Maharashtra from Kolkata.
As per the NIA press release, after his escape from custody, Nomi again started his nefarious activities on the directions of his handlers based in Pakistan and in Saudi Arabia. Naeem was asked to identify locations where terrorist attacks could be carried out and Habib helped Moni arranging shelter/hideouts and funds on different occasions for carrying out terrorist activities in India on the directions of the LeT commander Amjad alias Rehan, who is based in Pakistan.