NEW DELHI: A senior Lashkar-e-Taiba operative – Habibur Rahman , who was preparing a plan to carry out attacks in India from Saudi Arabia , has been arrested by National Investigation Agency upon his deportation from Riyadh on Sunday.

NIA claimed that Rahman was nabbed from the IGI airport as soon as he landed here from Riyadh. However, sources said that his deportation was result of cooperation between the two governments.

He is being questioned to know about Lashkar’s current plans for India and other cadres present in Delhi NCR.

Rahman is the handler of LeT terrorist - Shaikh Abdul Naeem alias Nomi, who was arrested in 2007 while trying to help two Pakistani and one Kashmiri terrorist infiltrate into India through Bangladesh.

Naeem had escaped from the police custody while he was being taken for court attendance to Maharashtra from Kolkata in August, 2014.

The escape from custody emboldened Naeem, who kept playing cat and mouse games with agencies for about three years during which he continued with his nefarious activities on the directions of his handlers based in Pakistan and in Saudi Arabia, the NIA said.

“A well-established conspiracy was hatched between the accused for targeting vulnerable locations in India with intent of causing maximum damage. Naeem was tasked to identify locations where terrorist attacks could be carried out,” a NIA spokesperson said.

In order to execute the conspiracy, the official said, Naeem assumed different fake identities and visited different states including Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, and did reconnaissance of possible targets for terrorist attacks.

“Habibur Rahman, who is affiliated to proscribed terrorist organisation LeT, arranged shelter/hideouts and funds for Naeem on different occasions for carrying out terrorist activities in India on the directions of the LeT commander Amjad alias Rehan who is based in Pakistan,” he said.

The spokesperson said Naeem was arrested by NIA in November 2017 and has been since charged along with 10 other co-accused including Habibur Rehman by the NIA.

“Accused Habibur Rahman is being produced today in Patiala House Courts, New Delhi to seek NIA custody for his interrogation,” he said.

