Maharashtra

Mumbai: Fifteen suspected members of terror group Indian Mujahideen (IM), who planned blasts in Mumbai during the ongoing Navratri celebrations, were arrested in connection with a string of explosions in Delhi, Ahmedabad and Bangalore. These persons were arrested between September 28 and October 5 at locations in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria said. The arrested members of IM were planning blasts in the country's financial capital during the ongoing Navratri celebrations, Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Gaffoor said.

Three of the fifteen arrested are alleged to be part of the media wing of Indian Mujahideen which had sent threatening emails using wireless internet connections in the city around the time the serial blasts were carried out at Ahmedabad and New Delhi, Maria said.

The three members of the media unit of the terror outfit were identified as Mohammed Mansoor Asghar Peerbhoy, Mobin Kader Shaikh and Asif Bashruddin Shaikh. "Ten of the arrested persons were involved in the making of bombs, carrying out surveillance and keeping them in Surat," Maria said. Over two dozen low-intensity bombs were found in various localities of Surat after the serial blasts in Ahmedabad on July 26. "The crime branch launched one of the largest manhunts in the country to arrest these persons," he said.

Peerbhoy was a computer engineer working in an MNC in Pune, Shaikh was employed in an IT firm and Shaikh a qualified mechanical engineer. The trio allegedly came to the city on five occasions prior to sending the first e-mail on July 26 in order to find unsecured wireless Internet sites, Maria said. They would roam in a car to sites where wireless internet was available and then send the emails at designated timings, he said.

The police have seized a laptop, six computers, a radio frequency detector, a wireless router, anesthetic injections and tablets from the trio, Gaffoor said. Mohammed Akbar Ismail Chaudhary, the driver of the vehicle in which they travelled to send the threatening emails, has also been arrested. "Chaudhary had taken a house in Surat on rent under a fictitious name prior to planting bombs there," Maria said. He is also alleged to have participated in the serial blasts in Hyderabad in August 2007 and planted a bomb which did not explode, he said.

A conspiracy meeting prior to the Hyderabad serial blasts, in which 40 people were killed, was held in Cheetah Camp in Trombay here. The meeting was attended by wanted IM head Riyaz Bhatkal, arrested IM members Mohammed Sadik Shaikh and Ansar Ahmed Shaikh, Maria said. The explosives used in the explosions at Ahmedabad were sourced from locations in Mangalore and other places in south India, police officials said. "Eight of those arrested were involved in the Ahmedabad blasts and we expect to get some good leads in the Bangalore blasts," Maria said.

One of the accused, Asif Bashir Shaikh, had allegedly made the bombs, used in Surat and Bangalore on July 25, with digital timers, Maria said. "Two persons, Mohammed Ali Ahmed (44) and his son Javed Ali (19), were arrested from Mangalore for allegedly harbouring IM members before and after the serial blasts," he said.

The police, during their raid in Mangalore, missed their prime target, Riyaz Bhatkal alias Roshan Khan, the alleged IM head. At least half a dozen of them had undergone training at Bhatkal in Karnataka organised between June and July 2007. Equipment used in the training, including weapons, bulletproof jackets and life jackets besides jihadi literature have been seized, Maria said.

The police were also looking to stem the economic pipeline of the IM which is suspected to be coming through legitimate cash transfers and hawala transactions, he said. Also, Rs 11.39 lakh were seized by the police during the raids which he said were being used to fund the group's activities. The terror group had also funded two of its media cell members to attend a training course on hacking in Hyderabad.

The fifteen arrested accused are Asif Bashir Shaikh, Mohammed Mansoor Asghar Peerbhoy, Mubin Kadar Shaikh, Mohammed Atiq Mohammed Iqbal, Dastagir Phiroz Mujawar, Mohammed Akbar Ismail Chaudhary, Anique Shafique Sayed, Majid Akhtar Shaikh, Yasir Anis Sayed, Farooq Sharfuddin Tarkash, Fazal-e-Rehman Mus Khan Durani, Ahmed Bawa Abubakr, Mohammed Ali Ahmed, Javed Mohammed Ali and Sayed Mohammed Naushad. (PTI)