Four Indian Mujahideen terrorists planning terror attacks during Lok Sabha polls arrested

A major terror plot was foiled on Sunday as a joint operation of Delhi Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) and Jaipur Police nabbed four suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists from Rajasthan.

Zee Media Bureau/Supriya Jha Jaipur: A major terror plot was foiled on Sunday as a joint operation of Delhi Police`s Special Cell and Rajasthan Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) nabbed four suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists from Rajasthan. One of the terrorist was arrested with 250 Kg of explosives from Jodhpur, while other three IM suspects were held in Jaipur. Reports say many terrorists managed to escape the police and a search operation is on in many areas of Rajasthan to hunt for them. Among those held, is the notorious IM terrorist Waqas alias Ahmad Javed of Pakistan, who is known to be involved in many terror attacks like Gaya and Patna blasts, Zaveri Bazaar blasts and Dilsukhnagar blasts. In a press conference, Delhi Police said Waqas was arrested on Saturday morning at Ajmer railway station. Waqas, who is thought to be close to Riyaz Bhatkal, is also wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which has kept a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head. Speaking to the reporters, SN Shrivastava, special commissioner of Delhi police (special cell) said that as Waqa was being quizzed, he revealed that three of his aides were about to meet in Ajmer for planning a terror attack. "Any major event including polls could be targeted, we still have to probe further about their specific target," said Shrivastava. Others nabbed were identified as Mahroof, Mehraj alias Mehrajuddin and Saqib. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde hailed the arrests of the four IM terrorists, terming the arrest of Waqas a great success. "It would help in getting more links to nab other terrorists,” he said. Shinde further said that the BJP leader Narednra Modi did not need to worry as he has been provided adequate security. The arrests came after the Intelligence agencies had issued an alert warning of possible terror attacks in the run-up to the General Elections 2014, that are to start from April 7.

Under suspicion is a new IM module, that is in direct contact with the IM leader Riyaz Bhatkal, who is said to be in Pakistan. The arrests come after some reports cited IB sources as saying that the BJP leaders` lives were under threat. Concerned with the reports over terror threats to its leaders, a delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party had on Friday met Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Shinde had denied having information about possible threat to the BJP leaders from terror groups. "We have no information regarding terror threat to BJP leaders," he told reporters here after the saffron party claimed, citing media reports, that the lives of its top leaders were under threat. Shinde said adequate security has been given to BJP`s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. It may be noted that there were bombs placed at Narendra Modi`s Patna rally last year. Also, a report few days ago had suspected that the Indian Mujahideen men may be on the prowl to kidnap a politician to bargain for the release of IM co-founder Yasin Bhatkal, who was in last August arrested from the India-Nepal border. Yasin Bhatkal and his associate Asadullah Akhtar are presently in the custody of Maharashtra Police and being quizzed for their alleged role in a terror case there.