BENGALURU/BHATKAL: City police and the state’s Internal Security Division raided a house in Fraser Town and arrested two terror suspects on Thursday, and a third in Bhatkal on the Karnataka coast.
One of those arrested is an MBA graduate. Bengaluru police said they had recovered a huge quantity of explosives from the suspects. The three suspects claimed they were members of Indian Mujahideen (IM), police told reporters. The arrested are Syed Ismail Afak, 34, Saddam Hussain, 35, and Abdus Subur, 24. All three are natives of Bhatkal. Afak and Hussain were staying in Bengaluru, while Subur, an MBA graduate, was taken into custody in Bhatkal.
City Police Commissioner M N Reddi told the media the police had received a tip-off on Thursday afternoon. “We simultaneously raided the houses of the accused in two places and found a huge quantity of explosives, including IEDs. We recovered about three kg ammonium, gelatin sticks, timer devices, PVC pipes, fuel, and other deadly material,” he said.
The police have sent the material to the Forensic Science Laboratory. The suspects were constantly in touch with IM and its splinter groups and were allegedly being directed by handlers of the terror group.
“They were active in the last few days and we are ascertaining when and how they came in contact with the terror organisation,” Reddi said. After they stumbled on the improvised explosives in Bhatkal, police say they came to know of a terror module in that town.
As of now, police believe the suspects had no direct involvement in the December 28 Church Street blast in Bengaluru. “But we are interrogating them to know more about their activities and their role in any cases reported in the city,” Reddi said. The arrested men were booked under the Explosive Substances Act and various sections of the IPC and were produced in the court.