Hyderabad doctor arrested for terror links ran shawarma outlet, say ATS investigators

HYDERABAD: Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed, the Rajendranagar-based doctor who was arrested by Gujarat's Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), was running a shawarma business to make a living, according to investigators.

Saiyed, who was part of a three-member gang arrested on charges of conspiring to carry out subversive activities, went to Gujarat after informing his family that he was travelling there for work.

Investigators said Saiyed was radicalised on social media, and was also actively posting subversive literature related to terror activities on Telegram. He was allegedly radicalising several people via Telegram, investigators said.


"We found incriminating chats that Saiyed had with several persons. He was also part of various Telegram groups. After coming in touch with like-minded persons on these Telegram groups, he would initiate personal chats on the messaging app. Saiyed was in contact with a handler named Abu Khadija, who is associated with the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). He himself was also radicalising others by talking about terror-related issues," investigators told TOI.

On Sunday, his family members received a phone call from Gujarat police informing them about Saiyed's arrest.

"Police made Saiyed speak to us, and he said that he was called for work and was trapped. From my room, illegal material was seized. On Monday, once again, I got a call from police, asking us not to enter my brother's room as Gujarat police will come to check," Saiyed's brother Syed Farooq said.

Saiyed is accused of recovering firearms through a dead drop in Gujarat. After verifying his phone call details, police nabbed two more persons — Azad Suleman Sheikh and Mohd Suhel Salim Khan.

Officials said that the accused had earlier obtained a cache of weapons from Hanumangarh in Rajasthan and had allegedly conducted reconnaisance of sensitive sites in Delhi, Lucknow, and Ahmedabad.