Terror probe widens, five more suspects arrested

Zeenews Bureau

Mumbai: The arrest of 11 terror suspects having links with the Lashkar-e-Toiba and HuJI in Karnataka earlier this week appears to have provided vital leads to security agencies. Five more terror suspects are reported to have been picked up over the past two days, in connection with the Bangalore terror module. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad has arrested four terror suspects from Nanded district, while a Hyderabad student was also held in connection with the same case. "We have arrested four persons, who have links with the terror suspects arrested in Bangalore," ATS chief Rakesh Maria said. However, Maria refused to divulge any further details. The student arrested in Hyderabad has been identified as Obaid Rehman (26). According to police sources, following the arrest of the terror suspects in Bangalore by the local police, they had shared some information with Maharashtra ATS officials, which has resulted in the arrest of these four in Nanded. The four suspects were picked up from various parts of Nanded district in south-east Maharashtra since past two days following a tip-off about their possible involvement in terror activities. In a major operation two days back, Bangalore Police had arrested 11 persons, including a DRDO scientist and a journalist, with suspected links to LeT and HuJI and claimed to have foiled their plot to target MPs, MLAs and media persons in Karnataka. A foreign made 7.65 mm pistol, seven rounds of ammunition and other gadgets were seized from them. The interrogation of the 11 arrested terror suspects has revealed that the module run by them had a larger network across Karnataka and in other parts of the country, highly placed police sources said. The 11 suspects, who were remanded to 14-day police custody after being produced at the residence of a local magistrate, had given to the police information on the terror network and sleeper modules that operated in neighbouring states. They had also revealed the names of some more persons and plans to trigger law and order problem, said sources. The interrogation also revealed that apart from politicians and journalists, the Kaiga nuclear plant and important naval installations were also on their radar. According to reports, the terror module was aiming to target the Seabird naval base in Karwar. (With Agency inputs)