BENGALURU: The three operatives of Indian Mujahideen arrested on Thursday are making startling revelations, a police source said.
Syed Ismail Afaq, Saddam Hussein and Abdus Subur are ‘highly radicalised’, and were allegedly planning big attacks. “They had been on our radar for almost a year after we confirmed their nexus with Indian Mujahideen,” a senior police officer told Express.
He said interrogation was on and the investigators were ferreting out specific information. “Preliminary investigations have revealed the two scrap merchants and the MBA student from Bhatkal had made plans to carry out terror attacks in and around Bengaluru. They had also stocked up on explosives to carry out attacks in other parts of the country,” the source said.
He alleged the suspects had links with some members of the Karnataka Forum for Dignity and the Popular Front of India, and had taken part in some of their meetings.
“The suspects were radicalised some years ago, and we are trying to understand how they came in contact with IM. We are not ruling out their contact with IM chief Riyaz Bhatkal,” the officer added.
Afaq was allegedly trained in making explosives and was keen to recruit young men to the terror outfit after making multiple visits to Pakistan.
His wife hails from Pakistan, the source said, and police are trying to find out if he was funded by any Pakistani terror groups.
In Custody: Police produced the three suspects before a magistrate on Friday and sought custody for 12 days to question them.
cm lauds state police:
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday congratulated the police for arresting two terrorists from an apartment in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Denying that Bhatkal has emerged as a terror hub, Siddaramaiah said there are several such places across the country. “Bhatkal has been in the news since 2008. The police had been keeping a vigil on the town. This close watch helped the police nab the terrorists,” he said.
On the riots in a city school after a teacher was accused of sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl, the CM said those responsible have been arrested. “This is the handiwork of a few people who wanted to create communal tension,” he said, clarifying that the girl’s parents had no role in the riots.