The duo — Mohammed Shareef Makhandeen Thakker, 33, and Mohammad Isaq Mohammad Rashid Kumlakh, 29 — was recruiting oil tanker drivers following instructions from the Pakistan-based terror outfit.
The anti-terrorism squad (ATS) claims to have unearthed a major Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) plot to target oil installations in the country with the arrest of two LeT activists from Thane. The duo — Mohammed Shareef Makhandeen Thakker, 33, and Mohammad Isaq Mohammad Rashid Kumlakh, 29 — was recruiting oil tanker drivers following instructions from the Pakistan-based terror outfit.
The ATS suspects that the recruitment was part of the LeT’s plan to carry out attacks on oil installations in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan. The drivers were roped in since they have easy access to the targets.
The arrested duo was asked to get details on military installations in Mumbai, Pune and Aurangabad. Kumlakh had also done a recce of the Mumbai Central railway station two to three months ago and passed on information to LeT operatives in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K).
Thakker and Kumlakh, both residents of Gakhrot village in the Rajouri district of J&K and oil tanker drivers, were trapped by ATS sleuths at a bar near Kapurbavdi junction in Thane on November 15.
The duo had come there for a meeting with some people.
ATS chief Rakesh Maria said: “Thakker and Kumlakh were carrying Tokarev 7.65 mm pistols when they were caught. Thakker was carrying seven live rounds of ammunition while Kumlakh was carrying six.’’ Initially, they were booked under the Arms Act but after further investigation, cases under several sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) were slapped against them, he added.
“We came to know that Kumlakh and Thakker work with a transport company named NN Sons at Talasari in Thane. They had links with LeT terrorists and were trying to recruit oil tanker drivers for the outfit. They would have been used to carry out the attacks,” he said.
They were staying in areas like Talasari, Vapi and Silvasa, and looking for possible recruits to indoctrinate them. They had intensified their activities in the last six months, ATS sources said.
ATS officials are investigating their other links in the city and the state. Also, they are looking for people with whom they were in touch with regularly.
Maria said: “It has also come to light that Kumlakh and Thakker were set to go for terror training at PoK after Eid -November 17 - but were arrested before that. We are trying to establish their links with terror suspects and operatives in J&K and other places.”
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