Suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba man on bail caught with fake passport, IDs

BAREILLY/MORADABAD: An alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, out on bail after serving a sentence for possession of firearms and explosives, was on Thursday night arrested by Moradabad police for possessing fake documents, including a passport.

Farhan Ahmed Ali, 48, had used the passport to travel to Kuwait in 2011, which was also a violation of the conditional bail on which he had been released from prison. Following a complaint of land grab, police arrested Ali from Barablan locality of Mughalpura police station. A search of his house turned up fake IDs including ration card, driver's licence, Pan card and Aadhaar card, as well as a fake passport.

When police investigated Ali's record, their findings made them alert security agencies, including the ATS and the Intelligence Bureau, whose officials are now interrogating him. On August 28, 2002, Ali and another alleged LeT man, Shahid Ahmed Bakshi, were arrested from New Delhi with 4kg of RDX, detonators, pistol and ammunition. They were accused of plotting to assassinate then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi and top Sangh Parivar leaders to "avenge" the 2002 Gujarat riots. They had also been accused of indoctrinating Muslim youths affected by the riots.

The assassination plot and indoctrination charges were not upheld by a Delhi court, but the two men were convicted for illegal possession of explosives and weapons and given a seven-year sentence in August 2007. Since Ali had been in jail for five years, the sentence was adjusted and he was released in 2009 on conditional bail.