Bangalore police foil terror plot, arrest 11 suspects

Mangalore Today News Network

Bangalore, August 30, 2012: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the City police on Wednesday cracked down on alleged terror modules in the State, arresting 11 people including six from Bangalore and five from Hubli.

 

 

The 11 men were held for their alleged links with banned terror organisations, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), from across the border.

L R Pachau, Director General & Inspector General of Police, told reporters here on Thursday evening that the CCB was working on a crucial bit of information regarding the terror modules for the past couple of months and had cracked down in the nick of time to avert a major incident.

Explaining the terror plot, Bangalore City Police Commissioner B G Jyothi Prakash Mirji, said that the two terror modules busted, one each in Hubli and the City, were working in tandem and they belonged to the proscribed terror outfits LeT and HuJI.

The police also claimed that their handlers were in Saudi Arabia. “On the orders of their handlers, the two terror modules here had plotted to assassinate a member of Parliament from the state. Also some of the high profile journalists and a media baron were on their hit list,” a senior police official told Deccan Herald.

The CCB, which was monitoring the movements of these terror modules cracked down on their hideouts in Hubli and Bangalore. According to the police, the CCB team raided two premises in Hubli early Wednesday morning and arrested Obedullah Imarn Bahaddur alias Sameer, 24; Mohammed Sadik Lashkar alias Raju, 28; Waheed Hussein alias Sahil, 26; Baba alias Mehboob Bagalokote, 26; and Dr Zafar Iqbal Shoolapur, 27. Almost at the same time, another CCB team also raided  premises in Mubarak Mohalla, J C Nagar and busted yet another terror module.

They were identified as Shoaib Ahmed Mirza alias Chotu, 25; Abdullah alias Abdul Hakim Jamadar, 25; Ijaz Mohammed Mirza, 25, who worked for DRDO; Mohammed Yousuf Nalaband, 28; Riyaz Ahmed Byahatti, 28 and Muthi-ur-Rehman Siddiqui, 26, a reporter working for this newspaper.

The police claimed that they also recovered a foreign made 7.65 mm pistol and seven live bullets from the Bangalore premises. The police also claimed that they have recovered other incriminating evidence from those arrested.

A case has been registered at Basaveshwara Nagar Police Station. The police also said that the case has been registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1963, 120(B), IPC for criminal conspiracy, 153(A), IPC for promoting enmity between groups and 307, IPC for attempt to murder. Mirji also clarified that  so far they have not discovered the involvement of these modules in any earlier terror attacks.

 

Family of terror suspect opposes arrest

 

The father of one of the 11 men arrested by the Bangalore Police on Wednesday on charges of having links with terror groups Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and the HuJI and plotting attacks on MPs, MLAs and journalists, has said that the family wasn’t informed his arrest. The man worked as an engineer at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

 

"We didn’t get any message of his arrest. The police did not give any information about his whereabouts. My elder son works at the DRDO. His name his Ajaz," said AM Mirza.

The Bangalore Police on Wednesday arrested 11 people, including a journalist with a popular English daily, for suspected terror links. Sources said the arrests were made as the eleven were planning to kill a prominent columnist with a Kannada newspaper, who had written an anti-Islam article, said Karnataka DGP Lalrokhuma Pachau.

Addressing a press conference, Commissioner of Police, Bangalore, JP Mirji said a foreign-made pistol and other incriminating evidence were recovered from them.

Mirji added that those arrested have links with Saudi Arabia-based LeT and HuJI and it is suspected that they have more supporters in other states. "Targeting individuals could have created communal tension," he said.

Mirji said more details could not be revealed at the time as investigations were still on.

Sources say that the Uttar Pradesh Police provided their Bangalore counterparts the intelligence about the terror group, which has links with Indian Mujahideen. Sources add that the questioning of those arrested is on.

At least three of the arrests were made in Hubli in north Karnataka.

Meanwhile, four suspected Indian Mujahideen activists involved in the 2010 Chinnaswamy Stadium blast case were detained in Bangalore on Thursday for questioning, police said.

Fifteen people were injured when two bombs exploded at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on April 18, 2010 on the eve of the Bangalore-Mumbai IPL semifinal match.

Speaking to reporters in Bangalore, Director General of Police Lalrokhuma Pachau said backgrounds of those picked up was being checked.