MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday conducted coordinated searches across Thane and Pune, targeting suspected links to the global terror outfit Al-Qaeda.

The raids follow the dramatic arrest of a 37-year-old software engineer from Pune on October 27, identified as Zubair Hangargekar, who allegedly had links with Al-Qaeda and was radicalized online and involved in disseminating extremist propaganda.

While ATS officials have said that the raids are not linked to Monday’s blast in Delhi, they added that they would be ascertaining any possible links to the incident that has killed over a dozen people in the national capital.

The operations, which began at dawn, involved several ATS personnel and local police units raiding the residential apartment of an Urdu teacher reportedly named Ibrahim Abdi in Thane’s Kausa area in Mumbra, and another person’s house in Pune’s Kondhwa area.

After the raids in Mumbra, Abdi was taken to his second house in Kurla, a suburb of Mumbai, where his second wife resides. According to ATS officials, the teacher’s name cropped up during the interrogation of Hangargekar from Pune, who claimed that he had met the teacher in Thane. 

During the searches, investigators seized electronic devices, including laptops, smartphones and other digital devices for forensic analysis. The officials have also said that while Abdi was detained for questioning, with no arrests as yet since further course of action will be decided only after thorough investigation.

This development comes amid heightened national security concerns, with intelligence reports warning of Al-Qaeda’s renewed push to exploit socioeconomic discontent in urban India. The ATS operation underscores Maharashtra’s role as a frontline state in combating homegrown extremism, building on last year’s bust of an ISIS module in Aurangabad.