Interrogation of terror suspects arrested by the CCB teams on Wednesday has revealed that a firearms training camp was conducted near Hubli recently where some of them were trained in handling small arms like pistols, sources said.
“In the training camp, two or three of the arrested suspects were trained to handle small firearms and even got firing training,” a source in the Home Department, who is privy to the interrogation details, told Express.
The sources, however, refused to say who among the arrested received the training. “Investigations are on to get more details about the kind of training they got and who trained them,” they added.
Similarly, the forests on the Dharwad-Uttara Kannada border were used for arms training by the Indian Mujahideen in 2008.
Now after the “plot” has been uncovered, the police have provided armed security to those on the suspects’ hit list. “They have also been advised to change their routine so that their movements are not tracked easily”
Meanwhile, sources in the Home Department said there was no change in the security being provided to the Chief Minister or other VVIPs.
Those in the security circles think that after a terror plot is busted, the threat level normally comes down as any plotters who are at large are likely to lie low to evade arrest. However, the police increase the security to possible targets.
Intelligence officials are also looking at the possibility of some of the arrested being used as couriers or conduits by organisations like Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence or terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba.