ISIS suspect planned to assassinate PM Modi by sniper attack, Gujarat ATS chargesheet reveals shocking details

A charge sheet filed by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) against two ISIS terrorists, Ubaid Mirza and Mohammad Kasim Stimberwala, last month, claims that an unidentified associate of one of the two arrested men talked about assassinating Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The charge sheet against Mirza and Mohammad Kasim Stimberwala — both arrested last October — was filed before the chief judicial magistrate at Ankleshwar in Bharuch district. ATS arrested them from Ankleshwar on October 25, 2017.

The chargesheet mentions that the intention to assassinate PM Modi was expressed in a conversation on a messaging application by one Ubaid Mirza, an alleged member of ISIS. “Yeah, let’s take out Modi with a sniper rifle.” According to reports, Mirza has been arrested and files were extracted from his phone and pen drive.

ATS added that Kasim Stimberwala had resigned three weeks before he was arrested. Stimberwala was planning to flee to Jamaica to join the jihadi activities under Shaikh Abdullah Al Faisal. ATS officials have discovered a work permit in his name from September 22, 2017, to September 2019. According to reports, ATS has collected this information from suspected IS agents who have now turned informants.

As per mentioned in DNA, the chargesheet says, Mirza, on September 10, 2016, at 11:24 pm, had messaged: “Pistol buy karna ho surely….then I will try to find a contact with him (If a pistol is to be bought, I will try to find a contact with him)”. It is not clear that to whom Mirza was referring as ‘him’.

At about 11:28 pm, Mirza received a reply from a social media contact calling himself `Ferrari’: “Yeah, let’s take (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi out with a sniper rifle Insha-Allah”. When ‘Ferrari’ mentioned a Russian-made gun, Mirza promptly replied, “I want it”.

In another WhatsApp chat with Ferrari on July 26, 2016, Mirza was told that ISIS handlers had asked its modules and lone-wolf attackers in India to use machetes and big chopping knives to target people. Instead of taking the risk of buying guns and assembling explosives, one can target people, “especially foreign citizens”, using chopping knives, Ferrari told Mirza.