Three persons were arrested with explosives from Goalpara district on Saturday in a joint operation by Assam and Delhi police.

Pramod Singh Kushwah, deputy commissioner of police (special cell), said the accused, Mukadir Islam, Ranjeet Ali and Jameel Luit, all in their early twenties, were arrested after a joint operation with Assam police.

They were taken into custody on Sunday.

The three were inspired by the ISIS module and were planning a terror strike on Monday at a Raas Mela in Goalpara district, Kushwah said. They were also planning to conduct terror strikes in heavy footfall areas of Delhi, he added. They were classmates and had also radicalised some people in Delhi, Kushwah said, adding that 1kg of explosive material, a sword and a knife were recovered from their possession.

The accused were carrying a complete IED to detonate it at a Raax Mela in Dudhnoi, about 40km from here, on Monday.

“A group of radical youths was identified by Delhi police and was subjected to intelligence exploitation. It was further revealed that this group had already assembled a few IEDs and they were planning to detonate these IEDs in the local Raas Mela of Assam, within a few days. This information was shared with senior officers who directed to take all necessary and immediate steps to avert this imminent IED blast. Thereafter, on November 24, the information was shared with Assam police. Immediately, on the specific input of special cell, a trap was laid near Madhuban Lodge in Goalpara town, Assam, by a joint team of special cell and Assam police. The joint team apprehended three terrorists inspired by ISIS from the spot before they could detonate the IED at Raas Mela in Dudhnoi. During interrogations, lots of valuable information was extracted and raids were conducted at two hideouts of this module and lots of IED materials were recovered,” a release by Delhi police said.

During initial interrogation, the trio said the recovered IED was complete in all respects and they had planned to connect the battery just before planting it at the fair at Dudhnoi.

They had also gathered IED components for carrying out blasts in Delhi and the explosive material was stored at Ranjit and Jameel’s houses, it said. The trio disclosed that the Assam blast was to be a test run for the blasts in Delhi.

“The timely intervention saved many lives, as Raax Mela has heavy footfall of devotees from the surrounding areas,” the release added.

Additional superintendent of Assam police, Amitav Basumatary, said, “Interrogation is on. Whether they are associated with any outfit will be clear after they are questioned.”

A case was registered against the trio at Goalpara Sadar police station under Sections 120B, 121, 121A, 122 and 153A of the IPC, Sections 4 and 15 of the Explosives Act, Section 25 of the Arms Act and Sections 16 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.