Mohammed Shafiq Ahmed hailing from Hyderabad, who was held for reasonable suspicion, has termed his arrest a case of racial profiling.
HYDERABAD: An Indian national deported from Britain on suspected terror links has termed his arrest as a case of racial profiling.
Mohammed Shafiq Ahmed, 23, a resident of Akbar Bagh neighbourhood in the city, has denied any terror links. Shafiq was arrested late on Wednesday soon after he arrived here.
Earlier, he was questioned for three days by the authorities at London's Heathrow airport as he was about to board a flight to New York. He was interrogated by Indian intelligence agencies at Mumbai airport on Tuesday.
Shafiq, who was working in a trading company in Dubai and staying with his brother, flew from Dubai to London and was to board a flight to New York for higher studies.
Police are interrogating him about his reasons to go to the United States. Though Shafiq claimed that he was going to pursue an MBA programme at the Johnson and Wales University at Rhodes Island, police doubt his academic certificates. However, both his passport and visa were found in order.
According to officials, a case had been booked against Shafiq in 2004 at Malakpet police station for allegedly threatening local legislator Malreddy Ranga Reddy.
He had been charged with criminal intimidation. He had threatened the legislator in 2004 after a youth was killed in firing by a Gujarat police team following the arrest of Moulana Naseeruddin. The arrest was in connection with the murder of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya and police resorted to firing as miscreants tried to free Naseeruddin.
Shafiq told newsmen while in police custody that his arrest was a case of racial profiling.
"They are looking at every Asian and every Muslim with suspicion," he said.
He claimed he was mentally tortured by British police when they asked him about the 9/11 terror attack and the recent conspiracy to blow up Trans-Atlantic flights.
"I told them that I knew nothing about this as it is all international politics," he said. Fed up with the grilling, the youth had even threatened to commit suicide. He said just as he thought that his ordeal would end, he was held on arrival in Hyderabad.
Shafiq, son of a retired government employee, said he had gone to Dubai a year ago and had a valid Indian passport. He obtained a student visa for the US and had all valid travel documents to reach New York via London.
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