Gujarat ATS arrests 1993 Mumbai blasts accused

In a major development, the Gujarat ATS arrested Ahmed Mohammed Shaikh alias Ahmed Lambu, one of the key accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, from Valsad on Thursday night.

According to police, Shaikh, now 52, was involved in smuggling of RDX that was used in the serial blasts of March 12, 1993, three months after the demolition of Babri Mosque in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. 

He had fled the country after the blasts, which killed 257 people and left around 700 others injured. ATS DCP Himanshu Shukla told reporters on Friday that Shaikh was caught from near Valsad coast following a tip-off, and brought to Ahmedabad for questioning.

"We have handed him over to the CBI," Shukla said.

Officials said that CBI had announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh on Shaikh in 1997, and he also figures on the Red Corner Notice (RCN) list of Interpol. Officials were tracking him for the past few years. On Thursday night, police got information that he was returning to India via sea route, and arrested him.

Shaikh is one of the key accused in the conspiracy to smuggle explosives into India and to carry out blasts at different places in the country's financial capital at the behest of underworld Don Dawood Ibrahim. Shaikh was introduced to Dawood by Mohammad Dosa, another conspirator and convict in the serial blasts case who died before his sentencing in the year 2017 following a heart attack. According to officials, Shaikh had attended a meeting with Dawood in Dubai where the conspiracy was chalked out.