`Abdul Karim Tunda`s arrest a setback for Dawood Ibrahim`

Defence Analyst Captain (Retd) Bharat Verma said the arrest of Syed Abdul Karim alias Tunda is a major setback for terror outfits.

New Delhi: Defence Analyst Captain (Retd) Bharat Verma on Saturday said the arrest of Syed Abdul Karim alias Tunda, one of the India`s most wanted terrorists, is a major setback for terror outfits, and emphasised there is a need to launch covert operations to get hold of and neutralise people like Dawood Ibrahim and Hafiz Saeed.

"What shows in a big picture is very simple that India surrounded by Islamic fundamentalist countries and these people run away to one of these countries when our intelligence agencies and police are hunting them. We need to launch covert operations, we hope Dawood Ibrahim is also caught in due course," he said. Captain (Retd) Verma said the death of Dawood`s right-hand man Iqbal Mirchi in London and the arrest of Tunda is a very major setback for Dawood Ibrahim. "But Dawood Ibrahim has a very fast network, which operates from Nepal exporting fake currency sand other things, which also works from Pakistan under the protection of ISI. And therefore, despite this big setback, we will have to gather adequate courage, strength and foresight to get hold and neutralise Dawood Ibrahim and people like Hafiz Saeed ," he added. Captain (Retd) Verma said Dawood Ibrahim`s aide Abdul Karim, who was born in Uttar Pradesh, was trained by ISI and wanted in 40 cases of bomb blasts in Delhi and nearby states in the 1980s and 90s. "He is an expert on making pencil battery explosives. He lost one hand in one of the blasts while he was developing a pencil battery explosive and so he got a name Abdul Karim Tunda, Tunda was added," he added. Captain (Retd) Verma further said Tunda later started getting very close to this ring of people who are acting against the Union of India. "Therefore, he was a price catch. But India must understand one simple factor. This man worked with Dawood Ibrahim, this man was trained by ISI, this man ran away in Bangladesh and a story was propagated that his dead. So, his files by intelligence agencies were closed without verifying. He resurfaced," he added. Tunda, who is accused of masterminding over 40 bombings in the country, was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police from the Indo-Nepal border last night. Tunda, who is around 70 years old, is accused of masterminding over 40 bomb blasts in New Delhi, Panipat, Sonepat, Ludhiana, Kanpur and Varanasi between December 1996 and January 1998 that left 21 dead and over 400 injured. ANI