ISIS-linked terrorist a native of UP's Balrampur; planned lone wolf attack in Delhi

The real name of the alleged ISIS operative who was arrested by Delhi Police Special Cell is Mohammed Mustkeen Khan, 36, a resident of Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh.

As per special cell sources, Mustkeen who was having different names such as Abu Yusuf, Abdul Yusuf, and Yusuf, was being handled by a different handler of ISIS's Khorasan Province (ISPK) module. Yusuf al-Hindi was his first handler who was killed in Syria by an American strike. 

After his death, Abu Hufeza al-Pakistani became his second handler. Hufeza was also killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan reportedly by American troops. 

The third handler, whose name special cell didn't disclose was handling Mustkeen. His idea was to attack a market of heavy footfalls on 15 August but due to heavy security, he dared not to execute his plan. 

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"Though he is only 9th pass, he travelled many countries such as UAE and Qatar. He worked there as a labourer.  He is good at plaster-of-paris work. He was active since 2015," said the police source. 

The source said that his handler had trained him in lone wolf attack. He made an IED on his own and planned to put it somewhere in a crowded area. The IEDs were ready, only the timer had to be set to make it a time bomb. 

Mohammed Mustkeen Khan has four children but he never let his family know about his plan. He has read at several schools. He was specially trained to keep changing names and used to meet different people with different names in a bid to conceal his identity. 

"He is highly radicalised. He told us his 16 names, gave us his 22 addresses, cooked up a dozen stories but we managed to foil his attempt and finally, he broke. He was in touch with his handler with the help of different apps such as telegram. He mostly chated in Urdu. We have strong evidences against him," said the source. 

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