BENGALURU/MANGALURU: The Bengaluru police have arrested a fourth Indian Mujahideen suspect, Riyaz Ahmed Sayeedi (32), at the Mangalore International Airport at 11.40 pm on Saturday just before he was to board a Dubai-bound Jet Airways flight.
Police said that Sayeedi is a close relative of IM chief Riyaz Bhatkal.
Bengaluru City Police Commissioner M N Reddi said, “The operation was based on the information provided by the three terror suspects — Syed Ismail Afaq, Saddam Hussain and Abdus Saboor — who were arrested recently.” He, however, refused to divulge any more information on the background or activities of the accused.
Police suspect that Sayeedi could also be involved in some of the blast cases in different parts of the country.
The arrests come in the wake of the bomb blast on Church Street in Bengaluru recently.
Immediately after he was picked up, Sayeedi was taken to an undisclosed location in Mangaluru and questioned. He was brought to Bengaluru on Sunday. Police said they had taken him to his house from explosives were seized.
Sayeedi, a resident of Makdhoom Colony in Bhatkal, was working as a sales representative for a computer hardware firm in Dubai for the last 10 years. A senior police officer said Sayeedi was in touch with Afaq, Hussain and Saboor over phone. He had come to India 15 days ago and was set to leave for Dubai three days ago, but had to wait till Saturday for his tickets.
Sayeedi’s father Mohammad Khwaja told Express that his son is innocent and had come to Bhatkal from Dubai only a fortnight ago on a holiday. He was planning to return to Dubai, but was facing fund constraints.
“Whenever he returned to Dubai, he used to take a flight from Bajpe airport. But when he came home, he used to alight at Mumbai or Kochi and then reach Bhatkal by bus or train,” a source said.
According to sources, more arrests are likely to be made from Mangaluru and Bhatkal in the coming days. Kerala too has been on the radar of the Bengaluru Central Crime Branch, Mumbai’s Anti-Terrorist Squad and National Investigation Agency, they said.