15 Tablighi Jamaat members including 5 Indonesian women clerics held

At least 15 Tablighi Jamaat members including five Indonesian women clerics who are suspected to be infected with the dreaded coronavirus (COVID-19) have been held by Ghaziabad police and sent to a quarantine home.

Their location was traced late on Saturday with the help of local clerics, and all were found to be staying in mosques and madrasas.

"The Sahibabad police station had received information about them. Most of them went to Nizamuddin Markaz Tabligi Jamaat event. A police team was formed to arrest them after receving information," Kalanidhi Naithani, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Ghaziabad, told IANS on Saturday night.

Police teams along with the informers raided the house of local resident Faiz Mohammad in Shaheed Nagar, D Block, of Sahibabad police station area.

Faiz Mohammad, after getting caught red handed, told the police teams that, some Jamaat members were present at his house, and some were staying in the nearby madrasas.

He confessed that five men and five women Jamaat members are Indonesian. While the rest are local residents.

Later, police teams, along with Faiz Mohammad's assistance, surrounded the nearby madrasa.

The police also found a Madrasa owner Rahis, a cleric Abdul Malik, Javed Alam, a guide to foreign deposits, and Abdul Malik, a mosque caretaker there, and all are said to be Indians.

The police team led by Sub-Inspector Babita Sharma apprehended Hardin, Abdul Azis, Jabir Nooruddin Tanda, Supriyad, Salauddin (five Indonesian-born Tablighi Jamaat members) and five Indonesian women -- Muniroh, Fatima Asri, Honey Mansaja Pasandig, CT Hadizah and Busrah.

The women admitted that they had reached India from Indonesia, and they also went to the Markaz Tablighi Jamaat headquarters in Nizamuddin, Delhi.

According to District Police Spokesperson Sohanveer Singh Solanki: "A criminal case has been registered against all under the sections of the including Pandemic Act, 7 Foreign Acts, and Disaster Management Act."

Solanki said since some of them are suspected to be infected with coronavirus, they have been sent to a quarantine home.