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Nalgonda district police in Andhra Pradesh arrested two alleged Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence-trained extremists on Friday.
Announcing the arrests in a statement, they said the ISI-trained operatives -- Mohammed Imtiaz (24) and Syed Noorul Rahman (24) -- were picked up from Nalgonda town in a crack-down on alleged 'Islamic extremists'.
The police said the duo had links with Mohammed Asghar Ali, the prime accused in the murder case of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya.
Imtiaz and Rahman had undergone training with Asghar Ali and another associate Naveed in Pakistan in subversive activities before they returned to Nalgonda recently.
Imtiaz resided at Abbasia Colony in Nalgonda town and Rahman stayed with his father Syed Madar Saab at Narketpalli.
Imtiaz discontinued his studies in the 10th grade due to lack of interest. He stayed with his father, Mohammed Khasim, a petty businessman, in Mumbai for five and a half years.
He moved to Nalgonda in Andhra Pradesh in 2001. He met Asghar Ali at a hospital in Nalgonda town and the latter promised to arrange a job for him in Dubai.
Rahman, another school dropout, got training as an electrician and worked for sometime in a private dairy factory at Uppal on the outskirts of Hyderabad. He also worked as a casual employee in the postal department. He met Asghar Ali in a mosque in Nalgonda and the latter promised him a job also in Dubai.
Asghar Ali brought the duo to Hyderabad and got them lodged in a hotel in Malakpet area where they met Iftikhar alias Iffu Bhai.
After a few days, Asghar Ali, Imtiaz and Rahman went to Kolkata, West Bengal, by the Howrah Express. On the train, another operative Naveed joined them.
An ISI contact Jaweed, alias Vicky, took the four persons in a car to the Indo-Bangladesh border. After they crossed into Bangladesh, they took a bus to Dacca. They stayed there for 25 days and were imparted training in the use of computers and Internet to keep in touch with one another.
The ISI agents there arranged used Pakistani passports for them, so that they did not raise the suspicions of the authorities in Bangladesh.
They flew off to Karachi by an international airline. After spending a few days in a guesthouse at Karachi, they were flown to Islamabad.
There a Pakistani army officer shifted them to a nearby area where they underwent training for 15 to 20 days in handling of small weapons, self-loading rifles, AK-47 rifles, use of RDX and electrical and non-electrical detonators, improvised explosive devices and grenades.
They were given detailed instructions on the modus operandi for blowing off railway tracks, oil tankers, electric transformers and water pipelines and to eliminate top scientists, engineers and political leaders with the sinister motive of destabilizing India through systematic sabotage.
They were brought back to India via the same route. After their return to India, Imtiaz and Rahman shifted back to Nalgonda. They were not given any assignment but Asghar Ali asked them to be available whenever needed.
He did not contact them and following his arrest and four other accomplices, in connection with Haren Pandya murder case, the Nalgonda police launched a manhunt for suspected ISI operatives and managed to nab Imtiaz and Rahman.