Chotila temple was third on ISIS suspects’ hit list: ATS officials | Times of India
AHMEDABAD: Following intense questioning, the Ramodiya brothers — Waseem and Naeem —have reportedly revealed that they had twice attempted to carry out a terror attack. Their first attempt was to kill a person while the second was to set ablaze a vehicle.
It was after these unsuccessful attempts that they had planned to attack the Chamunda temple at Chotila. In fact, on December 5 last year, there was a hoax call received at the temple about a bomb being planted there.
The arrest of the two ISIS suspects from Rajkot and Bhavnagar has caused a flutter among the Gujarat police who said they cannot rule out the possibility of others being involved in the ISIS terror module. The Gujarat ATS has also recovered two laptops from the Ramodiya brothers, sources claimed.
Gujarat police have now approached their Uttar Pradesh counterparts to hunt for more suspects in this case. Meanwhile, sources in the ATS claimed that a call intercept had revealed Waseem telling Naeem that he dreamt of slain al-Qaida kingpin, Osma bin-Laden. “Waseem says that by wish of Allah they will be successful in their endeavour and that the Almighty had shown them the correct path and even blessed their family,” alleged an ATS official.
In another conversation with his mother, Waseem suggests that both of them can travel to Madina by car and even dump their passports so that nobody can trace or identify them. “We are verifying the contents of that call intercept with Waseem’s mother,” an ATS official said. Sources in the ATS said they have a clear indication that the two brothers were to attack the Chotila temple. “In one of the call intercepts, Waseem is heard telling Naeem that he had gone to Chotila but was afraid. Waseem adds that he (the ISIS handler) had told him that they should show some courage and do the work,” said a source in the ATS.
ATS officials claim that the call records intercepted have revealed that both brothers regularly discussed attacks across the globe on ISIS terror portals. “We have intercepted calls where both are heard talking about terror attacks in Iraq, Turkey and even the assassination of Russian ambassador to Turkey. In one call, Waseem tells Naeem about an aeroplane which was shot down in the US,” said an ATS investigator.
