Surat in Gujarat and Mumbai in Maharashtra may have averted terror attacks just in time. The main accused in the terror module case that Delhi police is investigating have said in their interrogation that Gujarat and Maharashtra were on their target and recce was carried out in the two cities, according to officials. They added that the Mahatma Gandhi Setu, which connects Bihar’s capital Patna with neighbouring Hajipur, was also a possible target of the terrorists.
“Zeeshan said he had visited Surat and his co-accused had conducted a recce of Mumbai. The plan was to carry out blasts in the months of September and October,” a senior officer who interrogated Zeeshan Qamar told News18. Zeeshan, an MBA degree holder from Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, travelled to Pakistan via Muscat for terror training in April this year, authorities say.
Maharashtra ATS officials have told News18 that co-accused Jan Mohammed had recced Girgaon Chowpatty ahead of this month’s Ganeshotsav.
The conspiracy unravelled after Delhi police arrested Jan Mohammed from a Delhi-bound train at Kota in Rajasthan a couple of weeks ago.
Delhi police officials told News18 that Zeeshan has identified one of his trainers as Colonel Nizam of Pakistan army. “He named one of the two trainers who were dressed in Pakistan army uniform as Colonel Nizam. We don’t know if Nizam is the actual name of the person who was training him. This has to be verified through collaboration with other agencies,” an officer said.
Delhi police investigation suggests that two suspects, Zeeshan and Osama, had been trained at a farmhouse in Thatta in Pakistan’s Sindh region by the ISI. The training was for assembling and handling improvised explosive devices (IEDs). They were also trained in utilising daily use objects to carry out arson.
Police suspect ISI used Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Maulana Masood Azhar’s network to put together the terror module and the underworld to supply arms and ammunitions. Officials said that the mastermind of the case, Usaid-ur-Rehman, is based in the Gulf and the linkages in the case are spread from Saudi Arabia to Muscat, Dubai and Pakistan. Rehman’s son Osama and brother Humaid-ur-Rehman are in Delhi police’s custody.
Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested two people, Rizwan Ibrahim Momin and Zakir Hussain Shaikh, for collaborating with the Dawood Ibrahim gang as part of this terror module. Mohd Abu Bakr, Moolchand and Md Amir Javed are the other accused who are being probed in connection with this alleged terror conspiracy.
Delhi police commissioner Rakesh Asthana has been monitoring the investigation in this case and officials said he personally interrogated the accused on Monday.
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