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A Sudanese national, suspected to be an associate of international terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, and his Indian accomplice have been arrested by the Delhi police for planning to blow up the US embassy in the capital and seized six kgs of RDX and some pre-fabricated Improvised Explosive Devices from them.
Sudanese national Abdel Raouf Hawash and his alleged Indian accomplice Shameem Sarvar, were nabbed by the police from Nizamuddin area in south Delhi Friday night. They were produced Saturday before Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Kumar, who remanded them to police custody till June 26.
Police sought their remand on the ground that they wanted to conduct a thorough investigation in the duo's alleged link with Laden and to ascertain their source of logistics to carry out their plan.
Saying that they had planned to blow up the American embassy, police charged them with various sections of the Explosives Act and for conspiring to commit the crime.
Following the unearthing of the plot, security around the embassy has been beefed up and patrolling intensified.
Police said the conspiracy was hatched at the instance of a Yemeni national identified as Abdul Rehman Al-Safani, who paid Hawash Rs 500,000 for carrying out the blast.
They said Hawash was a student in Udaipur (Rajasthan). He came in contact with Sarvar, a religious teacher, and the duo became friends.
Hawash was also contacted by another person, who claimed to be a close confidant of Laden, in November 2000 and asked him to organise Muslim students with knowledge of mechanical engineering and nuclear science.
The Sudanese student contacted Sarvar and asked him for help, for which he was paid Rs 50,000 in advance by the Laden conduit.
Police said they have seized a list of persons nominated by Sarvar.
About the origin of explosives, police said they were received by Sarvar at the Indo-Nepal border after which he kept them at a safe house for use at an appropriate time.
Raouf had also bought a house in south Delhi from where they had planned to carry out the attack, police said. The duo was expecting to receive more explosives and arms.
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