Bhubaneswar: The Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Crime Branch Monday returned from Delhi after interrogating Habibur Rahman, one of the handlers of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Shaikh Abdul Naeem alias Nomi and a native of Kendrapara district.
A team of the STF led by DIG Himanshu Lal had left for New Delhi to interrogate Rahman with the permission of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Rahman was arrested by the NIA in New Delhi August 6 after being deported from Saudi Arabia.
According to the NIA, Naeem was arrested in 2007 while trying to infiltrate two Pakistani and one Kashmiri terrorist into India through Bangladesh.
However, he escaped from custody while he was being taken for court attendance to Maharashtra from Kolkata in August 2014. After his escape, he had joined the LeT on the directions of his handlers based in Pakistan and in Saudi Arabia.
Naeem, who was rearrested by NIA in November 2017, has been chargesheeted along with 10 other co-accused including Rahman.
Naeem was instructed by the Pakistan-based LeT terrorist Amjad alias Rehan to identify the locations where terrorist attacks could be carried out. To accomplish the task, he had visited different states including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh with fake identities.
To carry out the terror operation, Habibur had arranged hideouts and funds for Naeem on different occasions, the NIA sources said.
