Published: January 22, 2016 11:15 IST | Updated: January 22, 2016 13:21 IST Hyderabad/Mangaluru, January 22, 2016
Country-wide terror raids: NIA picks up eight suspects
PTI
The National Investigation Agency's headquarters in New Delhi.Simultaneous bomb blasts across the country planned; explosive substances seized from suspect in Hyderabad.
A network reportedly connected to the Islamic State and planning to carry out simultaneous bomb blasts across the country was busted by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) on Friday.
While four persons were picked up from Hyderabad in Telangana, several more were detained from Rajasthan and Karnataka in raids conducted on Thursday night. Members of the network, which decided to carry out terror attacks at public places, planned to make Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) on their own.
The NIA drive is said to be spread pan-India including Bengaluru, Tumakuru and Hyderabad, sources added.
Explosive substances were seized from Nafeez of Tolichowki in Hyderabad. He was among the four picked up by NIA with the help of local intelligence officials here.
The network was formed by associates of some persons involved in terror activities like Farahtullah Ghori from Telangana. Some of them are reportedly operating from abroad, say the police.
They formed the network and planned to strike on the eve of Republic Day. The NIA registered a case at Delhi and conducted raids at different places including Bengaluru on Thursday night.
Four more arrested in Karnataka
Four more youths were picked up from Karnatana – two from Jakkasandra, Bengaluru, and one each from Mangaluru and Tumakuru.
The four youths were picked up for their suspected links to Islamic State (IS) in a special operation that was carried out simultaneously in the three cities at around 2 am on Friday morning.
A senior police official confirmed the NIA operation in the three cities in the state and said that the four picked up were known to each other and were working in tandem.
Their online activity is said to have been monitored for nearly six months now and no credible information is available as to what triggered the intervention of security forces at this juncture.
City police sources said that they also wanted to interrogate the suspects to see if there is any connection to the IS linked threat letter to the French Consulate in the city.
Terror suspect from Tumakuru, Syed Mujahid Hussain (33) is a wholesale fruit merchant. Syed Mujahid Hussain is the only son of Syed Hussain, a retired assistant tahsildar and a retired school teacher of Poor House colony in Tumakuru city. His father claimed that his son is innocent.
He also accused the NIA of searching their house without a search warrant. He alleged that they seized four Qurans, photographs, photo albums, news papers, four mobile phones and Rs.3 33 lakh in cash.
Mangaluru suspect a diploma holder
The suspect picked from Mangaluru is 25-year-old diploma holder.
Sources in the police told The Hindu that Najmul Huda was secured from his residence in Permude village, near Bajpe, within Mangaluru police commissionerate limits.
Huda, son of a Moulvi in the local mosque, had completed diploma in polymer technology from government Karnataka Polytechnic in Mangaluru. Though he joined RV College of Engineering, Bengaluru, to pursue BE in chemical engineering, he left the course halfway and came back to Mangaluru, sources said.
The NIA personnel were completing certain formalities and preliminary inquiry is on in Mangaluru.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/countrywide-network-of-terror-suspects-busted/article8139019.ece?homepage=true
Delhi on alert after driver of hijacked Pathankot taxi found dead
- Hindustan Times, HT Correspondent |
- Updated: Jan 22, 2016 14:18 IST
Delhi Police released images of the suspects on Twitter (Delhi Police Twitter Handle)
Delhi police on Friday issued an alert after the driver of a taxi allegedly hijacked by three unidentified men from Pathankot was found murdered, sparking security concerns in the midst of a nationwide crackdown on suspected Islamic State terrorists.
Police released photographs of suspects and details of the vehicle through its official Twitter handle saying the Maruti Alto was hired by three unidentified men on January 20.
The driver of the vehicle, identified as Vijay Kumar, was later found dead at the Kalta bridge in Kangra, police said. Police in Himachal Pradesh, where the vehicle was registered, said the Alto was not registered with any travel agency.
(Delhi Police Twitter Handle )
What sent police into a tizzy was the fact that earlier this month terrorists had killed the driver of another vehicle they had hired before attacking the Pathankot airbase.
“There is no need to panic but we urge people to stay alert. Citizens should inform the police control room if they see any suspicious activity around them,” said deputy commissioner of police Rajan Bhagat said.
The alert came amidst heightened security in the Capital ahead of the Republic Day celebrations to be attended by French President Francois Hollande as the chief guest.
Police sources said the top brass of the police have called a meeting at the India Gate lawns later on Friday to discuss the security details at the vital installations around New Delhi.
Police have already made India Gate and Rajpath out of bounds for vehicles and tourists.
This year, police closed movement of vehicles on Rajpath early in the wake of numerous intelligence reports about possible terror attacks.
“We are taking no chances. We are not allowing anyone to park their cars near India Gate. The lawns have been closed. We are not allowing tourists to stand on the road for long. They can take pictures and leave quickly,” said a senior police officer.
The fresh terror alert came amid raids across the country by sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA)in search of suspected Islamic State terrorists, sources said.
At least six suspected terrorists were detained from different places including Bangalore, the sources added.
Authorities have tightened security across major cities following a flurry of intelligence reports warning that militants could target everything from busy malls to millions of pilgrims visiting the Ardh Kumbh.
Extra paramilitary forces were deployed in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, where the French consulate on Thursday received a letter warning against its president’s presence at the Republic Day celebrations.
Police are investigating the source of the letter which said Francoise Hollande should cancel his trip to India beginning Sunday.
Separately, police also arrested four men in Uttarakhand on Wednesday on suspicion of planning an attack in Delhi. Security officials said the four had been under surveillance for several months after their online activities drew suspicion, including contacts with people in territory in Iraq and Syria controlled by the Islamic State group.
Police said the men had also been planning strikes in Haridwar, where thousands of devotees are now gathered for the Ardh Kumbh festival.
In Panaji, Goa Police have stepped up security in the state and were investigating a postcard received by the State Secretariat and warning to harm Prime Minister Narendra Modi and defence minister Manohar Parrikar.
In Mumbai, the police are yet to trace six mysterious paragliders who were seen near the city’s coast on January 13. Authorities said they have taken the incident seriously because of a 2010 intelligence report that the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba had procured 50 paragliders from Europe and was conducting a training in Pakistan to launch an aerial attack.