A Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist accused of terror-related activities in Bengaluru has been extradited from Rwanda. Salman Rehman Khan, a member of the Lashkar was deported through Interpol channels following a request made to Rwanda by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Khan is wanted in a terror case and is accused of providing arms and ammunition along with explosives to further the terror activities of the outfit in Bengaluru. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will get Khan’s custody and further investigation by the agency will continue.
This also marks the 17th instance since 2020 where the NIA has successfully managed to have terror-related fugitive extradited.
More about Khan
Salman Rehman Khan was lodged in the Bengaluru Central Jail where he was serving a sentence in connection with a POCSO related case. He was sent to jail in 2018 and his term ended in 2022.
During his stint in jail, he came in touch with a key Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, T Nasir. It was during this time that Khan was radicalised by Nasir. Following this, Khan was released as his term came to an end. He then went on to become an active member of the outfit.
He remained in Bengaluru and worked for the outfit. However, when his name cropped up in the terror conspiracy case, he fled the country and reached Rwanda.
When the NIA learnt that he had fled the country, a Red Notice was issued by the Interpol after which the cops in Rwanda arrested him. This was intimated to Bharat and following a series of coordinated efforts, he was extradited.
Why the extradition is important
On the face of it, Khan may look like a small fry in the larger context of things. However, according to the investigation, he is an important member of the outfit and was looking to strengthen the terror group in Karnataka.
His arrest would give the NIA probe a fillip as the agency is already looking into several cases relating to this outfit.
The Lashkar-e-Taiba has for long been operating in Karnataka in various ways. One of its key operatives is T Naseer, who is now a life imprisonment convict. While in jail he has been indulging in radicalising the Muslims lodged along with him. During the raids conducted the police had initially seized arms and ammunition that included 7 pistols, 4 hand grenades, one magazine and 45 live rounds along with 4 walkie talkies.
The Lashkar-e-Taiba has been for long making plenty of efforts to have strong modules in Karnataka. It has managed some amount of success and there have been various cases relating to it. The outfit has been part of a major assassination plot in which it had planned on assassinating prominent personalities including journalists at Hubbell and Bengaluru.
The arrest of Khan will not only help the NIA understand that case that he is already being probed for, but other cases as well and how each one of them are inter-linked.
Lashkar-e-Taiba’s tryst with Karnataka
When one looks at the various investigation reports relating to the Lashkar in Karnataka, it becomes clear that the modules are inter-linked. For instance the outfit’s modules work very closely with the ones in Telangana.
The outfit had plotted along with its module in Karnataka to execute an assassination in Telangana. It was found that the terror group had hatched a plot to kill RSS workers both in Karnataka and Telangana. Further the links of the outfit were found when a blast took place outside the Sai Baba Temple in Hyderabad in 2002.
When the NIA began probing these cases, it was believed that these are linked only to the Karnataka module. However when the agency dug deeper it was found that the Karnataka module was connected with the ones in Nanded as well.
During a meeting that was held the members of the outfit decided to indulge in targeted killings. Each one was asked to draw up a list of important names in their respective states and then begin planning the killings. For this, they were in the process of picking up Muslim youth and train them to undertake the assassination.
The Saudi link
The terror module in Bengaluru is controlled by operatives based out of Saudi Arabia. Before the meeting was held in Karnataka, there was a meeting that took place in Riyadh which was organised by Abu Sufiyan and Zainul Abideen along with three others. It was at this meeting that it had been decided that targeted killings ought to take place as it would not only send out their message, but would be more chilling than a bomb blast.
However these days owing to Bharat’s brilliant diplomatic record several countries have been honouring extradition requests. In recent times, Saudi Arabia has extradited without any fuss the likes of Dr. Sabeel Ahmed and Abu Sufiyan both members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
While the NIA has managed to ensure 17 extraditions, there are other cases too in which such requests have succeed. Bharat has in 2024 alone managed 26 extraditions, which include those accused of sexual offences, crimes against minors, terrorists among others.
Nasir and Ahmed
The foundation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba in South India and in particular Karnataka was laid by T Nasir, a Kerala based operative of the outfit. Nasir was found to be the mastermind of the Bengaluru blasts, following which he was sentenced to life. In jail, he however continued with his work and began radicalising the youth.
The other name that comes to mind is that of Dr. Sabeel Ahmed, the brother of Glasgow bomber, Sabeel Ahmed. Kafeel had been detained briefly following the Glasgow incident, but was released as the charges against him were not very strong. He spent some time in Bengaluru before leaving for Saudi Arabia.
He remained quiet for a while but his name soon came up in a terror plot. He had by then joined the Lashkar-e-Taiba and along with other members had actively planned the killing of Hindu leaders in Karnataka and Telangana.
Sabeel had no plans of returning to India. However his name cropped in several cases, including one being investigated by the Delhi police.
The agencies took sometime to figure out who this person was as he used the name Motu Doctor during his conversations. When his identity was finally confirmed, the Saudi Arabian authorities were informed about the same. After sharing information with the authorities, he was deported to Bharat on May 8 2018.
