Hyderabad ricin case: Doctor bought oil machine before arrest; family says ‘he didn’t know the poison’

The family of terror suspect Dr Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed has said they were unaware of his activities, and that he recently bought an oil-extracting machine and used it at home days before his arrest.

His younger brother, Saiyed Umar Farooq, said on Thursday that they had no idea what Ahmed was producing with the machine or why he bought it. Ahmed was arrested last week by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) for allegedly collecting raw materials to make ricin, a highly dangerous poison.

What was the purpose of oil-extracting machine?

According to Farooq, Ahmed purchased the oil machine just a few days before his arrest. He operated it at home in front of family members. Although the family found the activity unusual, they did not suspect anything illegal.

On November 5, Ahmed told the family he was travelling to Gujarat to supply oil to a customer. The next day, Farooq received a call from Gujarat ATS informing him that Ahmed had been arrested.

Farooq said Ahmed later explained that he had delivered the oil to a man and was expecting payment. Instead, the man placed a parcel in Ahmed’s car and told him that the money was inside it.

Moments after he drove away, the ATS intercepted his vehicle and checked the parcel. Ahmed claimed he did not know that it contained a weapon.

‘He may not have known what he was making’

Farooq insisted that Ahmed might not have known what he was producing with the oil machine. "Ahmed, I guess, was just following instructions from a caller, assuming that he was a customer. Another thing I want to point out is, until ATS declared it, how many of us knew that there is something called ricin, a poison? I am assuming that my brother Ahmed was also ignorant that what he was producing was poison," Farooq was quoted by TOI as saying.

Ahmed completed his MBBS in China from 2007 to 2013, but he was not practising as a doctor and had instead taken interest in small business ventures.

Farooq said that if investigators find proof that Ahmed was linked to the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), then he should be punished. However, he also urged the agencies to identify and arrest those who “trap innocent people” into such activities.

Search recovers castor seeds and chemicals

A Gujarat ATS team on Thursday searched Ahmed’s home in Rajendranagar, Hyderabad. Officers seized castor seeds, castor bean cake, chemicals, and the oil-extracting machine, along with other items suspected to be used in preparing ricin.