Base Movement had planned more blasts in Kerala and Telengana: NIA

NIA is probing whether the group carried out attacks in Malappuram and Kollam with the assistance of any one from Kerala.
an LPG cylinder kept in the boot of a car exploded near the first class magistrate court at Tuesday noon. | Express Photo Service
an LPG cylinder kept in the boot of a car exploded near the first class magistrate court at Tuesday noon. | Express Photo Service

KOCHI: According to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the activities of ‘Base Movement’, the members of the group arrested from Madurai and Chennai on Monday were aiming more low-intensity blasts in states including in Kerala.

Even though the involvement of Keralites has not emerged in the interrogation, NIA is probing whether the group carried out attacks in Malappuram and Kollam with the assistance of any one from Kerala.

According to officials, the NIA would take over the probe in Malappuram and Kollam blasts once the State government refer it to the national agency as the cases are being probed by State police.

However, they would be probing the activities of ‘Base Movement’ in Kerala as part of the case registered in connection with bomb blast at Mysuru Court Complex.

The investigators found the group was planning two more attacks in the span of next two months in states including in Kerala and Telangana. Surprisingly, the group did not plan a blast in Tamil Nadu purposefully, to avoid any suspicion as they operated from Chennai. However, the police in Kerala, Telangana and Karnataka unearthed roots of the group in Tamil Nadu after the respective blast in each of the State.

"The group is confined to the limited number of persons. We have identified seven persons and more number of people associated with the group has to be traced. Some the members were not active in the group. According to them, the group mostly used gunpowder for carrying out the majority of the blasts and no shrapnels were used in order to avoid casualty. The group members were familiar with each other and most of them were living in Madurai. But we need a further probe to clarify the involvement of any person from Kerala in the group," said the officer.

Currently, the national agency is trying to locate the persons who provided explosives used in the attack at the five locations. In the majority of these cases, the group was using gunpowder which was easy to procure. Since there are several cracker manufacturing units located in Tamil Nadu, NIA suspected that gunpowder was leaked from such units. 

Similarly probe is on to check whether the group had any link with Al-Qaeda and if funds were received from international sources. According to NIA officials, it requires a considerable amount of expertise to carry out blast using the pressure cooker.

Abbas Ali, who was allegedly making explosives for the group would be interrogated further after taking them into custody from the court.

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