Intelligence Bureau had alerted Centre on train blasts

MUMBAI: The Intelligence Bureau (IB) had apprised the Union Home Ministry of an imminent terror threat posed by the LeT-Dawood-SIMI combine late last month, according to sources.

The IB director and other senior officers had handed over a two-page document to Union Home Secretary VK Duggal on June 26 detailing how insurgent groups from across the border were likely to strike at the country’s transport systems, among other vital installations, soon. The report named Dawood Ibrahim, SIMI and Lashkar-e-Tayiba as the masterminds.

Duggal sought several clarifications, but the IB officials told him it was difficult to get the exact nature of the plan since it was drawn up abroad.

The IB was apprehensive that the attacks could be on the metro rail system in Delhi or Calcutta and on local trains in Mumbai. The terror strikes at the London and Madrid metros could have been the reason behind the IB’s apprehensions, the sources said.

The ministry then issued an alert to the concerned states, including Maharashtra. “When we receive such alerts, we upgrade security at facilities such as BARC, ONGC installations, airports and the railways, and important places of worship like Siddhivinayak temple,” said a police officer.

He said the state received several such alerts from Delhi in the last six months.