NIA takes over ricin terror plot probe from ATS: Gujarat police

Ahmedabad, Jan 3 (PTI) The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has handed over the probe into the alleged ricin poison terror plot to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), said a senior Gujarat ATS official on Saturday.

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) had arrested Dr Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed, Azad Suleman Sheikh, and Mohammad Suhail Mohammad Saleem on November 9 last year for their alleged role in a plan to carry out a major terrorist attack with weapons and chemicals.

The agency had booked the three under the stringent UAPA, or Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, besides invoking the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Arms Act.

“The MHA has ordered to hand over the UAPA case concerning the ricin chemical plot to the NIA,” Superintendent of Police (ATS) K Siddharth told PTI.

Ricin is a highly poisonous substance that can be made from the waste material left over from processing castor beans.

Gujarat ATS, which was probing the case, arrested Dr Saiyed, originally from Hyderabad, near Adalaj in Gandhinagar on November 7 with two Glock pistols, a Beretta pistol, 30 live cartridges and four litres of castor oil, officials had earlier said.

The other accused, Sheikh and Saleem, both hailing from Uttar Pradesh, were arrested in Banaskantha district for allegedly supplying weapons to Dr Saiyed.

The officials had then confirmed that Saiyed’s handler, Abu Khadija, was from Afghanistan and associated with the ISKP (Islamic State Khorasan Province), and he had also been in contact with several individuals from Pakistan.

According to officials, Dr Saiyed, who earned his MBBS degree in China, had been preparing ricin to execute a major terrorist attack. He had already begun the necessary research, procured the equipment and raw materials, and initiated the initial chemical processing. PTI KVM PD NR