NEW DELHI: Abdul Aziz alias Giddah, accused of conspiring to organise blasts in Andhra Pradesh a decade ago, was deported from Saudi Arabia earlier this month after serving 10 years in a prison there for planning to blow up oil installations in the country’s eastern region and other acts of terror. TOI has learnt that the top jihadi was arrested by Saudi authorities in 2005 even as he planned to go to Iraq from Jeddah to fight American forces.He had travelled to Jeddah in July 2005 from Dhaka by a Gulf Airways flight and stayed at the house of Shakeel, a Pakistani. Having fought on the frontline in Bosnia and Chechnya, Aziz was contemplating leaving for his next jihadi assignment in Iraq when Saudi authorities took him into custody. He was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment but served more than 10 years. In fact, the Saudi government even paid Aziz compensation for the extra two years he had to stay in prison.After his release, Saudi authorities deported him to India on February 2. According to details of his interrogation accessed by TOI, Aziz was drawn more to jihad in theatres like Bosnia and Chechnya than India.In 1997, when he was persuaded by handler Mohd Ismail and Pakistani Lashkare-Taiba operative Salim Junaid to wage jihad in India, he argued that there was no such need “since the postion of Muslims in India is not as bad as in other countries”.Later, however, he was convinced by Sheikh Ahmed, director of Saudi-based NGO International Islamic Relief Organisation, to wage war against India over the Babri masjid demolition, for a hefty sum. Sheikh sent Rs 9.5 lakh to Aziz, which was further transferred to his father-inlaw by the hawala route.Aziz was arrested by Hyderabad police in 2001for allegedly acquiring weapons and detonators for carrying out explosions in the city.He was released on bail in December 2001 but jumped bail in 2003 and fled to Bangladesh. There, he paid Rs 35,000 to an agent to acquire a fake Bangladeshi passport. However, he was unable to get the passport and returned to India in 2004.While in India, he allegedly conspired with terror aide Moulana Naseeruddin to target key installations like dams and a Ganesh temple in Secunderabad. He trained eight youngsters in Hyderabad to assemble IEDs but they were arrested by the Andhra Pradesh Police.Fearing arrest, Aziz once again fled to Bangladesh via Bengaluru and Howrah.There, he got the Bangladeshi passport he had applied for earlier. He also secured an Umrah visa to visit Mecca. In July 2005, he left for Jeddah.Aziz joined radical outfit Darsgah-e-Jihad-Shahadat in the late 1980s, and trained for 4-5 months in the use of lathi. He was in contact with known terrorists Fasiuddhin and Azam Ghori. In 1989, his father gave him some money to go to Saudi Arabia.He went to Medina in 1991, returned to India and then again went to Dammam in 1993 for work. There he met Shaik Obaid, who ran a charity outfit, Markaz Ul Dawa Ul Nushan. He underwent a three-month course in Islam and Arabic, and read magazines that said Muslims were being “subjected to torture in Bosnia”. In 1994, he travelled to Zanitica, Bosnia, and fought on the frontline for about three months.He returned to Riyadh in 1995 and later to India. The same year, he got a tourist visa for Moscow and travelled further to Chechnya for jihad. In mid-1999, Aziz tried to go to Chechnya again by reaching Georgia via Dubai and Istanbul, but was sent back due to the visit of Pope John Paul II to Georgia.