Arresting Tauqeer is the key, says ATS

The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has prepared a dossier on Simi activist Abdul Subhan Usman Qureshi, alias Tauqeer — suspected to be one of the masterminds of the Ahmedabad and Delhi blasts — based on the details obtained from the interrogation of various Simi operatives held by investigating agencies across the country.

The ATS believes that Tauqeer, a computer expert, has trained more than 100 people in bomb-making. The training, investigators said, must have taken place during the various meetings Simi held in 2007 and earlier this year at various places in the country.
“Tauqeer’s profile is very intriguing,” a senior ATS officer said.

He studied in a convent school, passed SSC with good marks and went to a college in Navi Mumbai. “In the mid-1990s, he obtained a diploma in industrial electronics. Then he did a specialisation in software maintenance from an institute in Andheri,” the officer said. He then worked as a software engineer in at least three companies in Mumbai.
In 2001, however, he suddenly quit his job. “Even his family does not know what prompted him to take such a step. His family members claim they have not seen him after Simi was banned in the later part of 2001,” the officer said.

The Mumbai police said it is still a mystery why Tauqeer joined Simi. All that the police know is that by 1998 he was completely committed to Simi’s cause. Arresting Tauqeer could be the key to prevent more terror attacks, the ATS officer said.
d_nikhil@dnaindia.net