NIA arrests al-Qaeda operative for conspiracy to conduct blast in Lucknow

They were said to be in touch with terror outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH), an auxiliary of al-Qaida. ATS had claimed that the accused were planning to trigger blasts around Independence Day celebrations in 2021. Investigators had recovered an IED in the form of a pressure cooker bomb from the Lucknow residence of an accused.