Crime Branch officers detained four people in connection with 11/7. ‘Outsiders’ assembled explosives, locals provided logistic support
‘Outsiders’ assembled explosives, locals provided logistic support
Anupam Dasgupta/Dayanand Kamath
MUMBAI: Crime branch officers on Saturday detained four people in connection with the 11/7 terror strikes. Sources confirmed that Firoze Deshmukh, one of the detainees, is a former functionary of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Two special teams have already left for Marathwada on the basis of a “clue: they obtained during interrogation.
Meanwhile, interrogation of the three other suspects, who were arrested and produced at Mazgaon court on Friday, centred on finding the links in the “local chain” which functioned as a single unit till the execution of the blasts. Of the three, the role of Kamal Ansari, who is a confirmed Lashkar-e-Tayiba member, is turning out to be significant. After interrogating the trio for over ten hours, Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officials are now on the lookout for seven other persons.
In another development, a joint team of the ATS and the Mumbai crime branch questioned a software engineer from Bangalore for more than five hours.
Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Meeran Borwankar personally grilled the engineer at the Antop Hill premises of the crime branch unit-V. The police refused to divulge any more information.
As for the planning of the terror strikes, ATS officers said that they have reason to believe that the assembling of the explosives used in the blasts was accomplished by a “group of outsiders.”
The task of planting the bombs was carried out by some “handpicked local guys,” said a senior ATS officer.
The police, however, are yet to determine if they have secured leads which point to people involved in the “target selection consideration” meetings.
“They could be operatives who have sneaked out of the country,” said a senior ATS officer. ATS investigators are also attempting to discern why Kamal Ansari was present in the city on the day of the blasts.
Other aspects of investigation concern ascertaining whether Ansari “took part” in ferrying explosives into the city and arranging storage facilities.
Meanwhile, Indian security agencies are keeping close tabs on the developments relating to the arrest in Mombassa of Abdul Karim Tunda, said to be the “committed fundraiser” for Lashkar-e-Tayiba.
Tunda is an expert in assembling improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and can reveal Lashkar’s “new strategies and action plans.”
Tunda, a police officer said, was initially affiliated to the now defunct Harkat-ul-Ansar and later switched allegiance to the Lashkar.
Investigators are also attempting to establish the details pertaining to Ansari’s “recent” visits to Nepal and Bangladesh.
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