Courier firm under terror probe lens

CHENNAI: Based on information that materials to make explosives were  transported to Madurai allegedly through a private courier service in the city, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has summoned officials of a Tamil Nadu-based private courier company.

An NIA source told Express that the consignment was sent from Washermanpet in North Chennai to Madurai by a group of youth arrested last August in connection with several low intensity blasts in various parts of South India. The addresses from which the parcels containing the explosives were sent and received belonged to the five youth N Abbas Ali (27) ,Mohammed Ayub Ali (25), M Samsumdeen Karim Raja (23), S Karwa Samsumdeen (25) and S Dawood Sulaiman (25).
Of these, four were arrested by NIA in August 2016 in Madurai and Dawood Sulaiman was nabbed in Chennai. NIA suspects they were involved in 15 blasts reported in different parts of the southern states. NIA suspects that the courier service has no facility to scan parcels sent through it. “During investigation, it was found that the materials for the explosives were sent through this courier service and was delivered in Madurai which was received by Samsumdeen and was later prepared as explosives,” an NIA source told Express.

When Express contacted a top official of the company, he confirmed having received the summons, and said documents have been submitted to NIA. “We are probing if any other courier service or other means of transport were used to send the explosive material,” the source said.
Explaining how they nabbed the suspects, the officer said, the NIA sleuths stayed in Madurai for three months. They posed as destitutes, beggars and pavement dwellers in a mosque to keep a watch on their activities.