Crime branch nabs wanted SIMI men from Mira Road

The crime branch arrested two alleged Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) operatives, wanted by the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), from Mira Road on Thursday.

The duo has been identified as Irshad Salim Khan, 36, and Asrar Ahmed Abdul Hamid Tailor, 38. The Unit II of the crime branch, acting on a tip-off, arrested the two from Naya Nagar area around 3pm.

“They were wanted by the ATS in the July 2006 Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act case, in which five people had already been arrested by the ATS and 12 were shown as wanted, including Khan and Tailor. One of the 12 accused also included Safdar Nagori, who had been arrested by the police in Indore,” said joint commissioner of police (crime), Rakesh Maria.

Maria added that Jihadi literature printed and distributed by the accused were recovered by the ATS at the time of their arrest. 7/11 bomber Ehteshaam Siddiqui was also part of the meeting held in Ujjain in Uttar Pradesh, prior to the blast. Khan, a civil engineer by profession, was also the Maharashtra president of SIMI in 2001. Tailor is a computer expert. When asked whether the arrested duo had undergone training in Pakistan and were in touch with any terrorist outfits, Maria said, “It would be too early to comment. We would hand them over to the ATS for further investigations.”
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