ISIS-linked doctor arrested for preparing lethal ricin for terror attack

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Sunday arrested three suspected ISIS terrorists, including a Hyderabad-based doctor. The doctor, Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed (35), was allegedly preparing ricin, a highly toxic chemical. He had also conducted reconnaissance of crowded food markets in Delhi's Azadpur Mandi, Ahmedabad's Naroda fruit market, and the RSS office in Lucknow over the past six months. The ATS said Saiyed was working on ways to weaponize ricin for a possible terror attack. To execute a major terrorist attack, Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed had been preparing a highly lethal poison named 'Ricin,' the Gujarat ATS said in an official statement. The ATS is now probing if any experimental preparation of ricin had begun as part of this conspiracy. The arrests were made in a joint operation with central agencies, and preliminary questioning indicates these men were part of a larger ISIS-linked network. Apart from Saiyed, two others from Uttar Pradesh, Azad Suleman Sheikh and Mohammad Suhail Mohammad Saleem, were also arrested. Gujarat ATS DIG Sunil Joshi said the accused men have also disclosed that their handler sends the arms consignment via a drone across the Pakistan border. During interrogation, Saiyed disclosed that he was planning terrorist attacks and had gathered the weapons from a remote location in Kalol, Gandhinagar district. Joshi stated that Saiyed's handler, Abu Khadija, was an Afghan resident involved with the ISKP (Islamic State Khorasan Province) and that he had also communicated with other Pakistanis. The other accused, Sheikh and Saleem, allegedly obtained guns from Hanumangadh in Rajasthan and supplied them to Saiyed, according to Joshi. Saiyed holds an MBBS degree from China and was in touch with Abu Khadim of the Islamic State - Khorasan Province (ISKP). Gujarat ATS DIG Sunil Joshi said, Dr. Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed is highly educated and radicalized and had planned to collect funds and recruit persons as part of a conspiracy to carry out major terrorist activities. Saiyed has been remanded in ATS custody till November 17.