Recent arrests of suspected subversives in Pune have revealed that while the city was never the actual intended target of terrorists, “sleeper cells” used it as a base.
PUNE: Recent arrests of suspected subversives in Pune have revealed that while the city was never the actual intended target of terrorists, “sleeper cells” used it as a base to provide logistical support to those who executed the bomb blasts in various cities across the country.
Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) officials in the city said the Pune-based members of the Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi) and others have provided vital logistical support for the bomb blasts in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and elsewhere. Their activities have continued since 2005, camouflaged by Pune’s reputation as a peaceful city.
The Mumbai ATS last week arrested three Pune-based youths — Ayyaz Khan, Nadeem Sheikh (a law student of a city-based college) and lawyer Bilal Kagzi.
Based on their confessions, the ATS on Thursday arrested a screen painter Feroz Mehboob Pathan of Ghorpadi Peth.
Earlier, on Tuesday, the Gujarat ATS arrested city-based dentist Mohammed Salim Hanoli from his hometown Bijapur in Karnataka. Hanoli, a dentist with a Pune college, had left the city in May.
The ATS suspects that these youth worked together to provide logistical support for the Ahmedabad blasts. They held meetings at a spot located in Bhavani Peth in the heart of old Pune.
In fact, Rizwan Daware (34) a resident of Shivarkar Road in Wanowrie and suspected Simi member, was proclaimed as “wanted” by a Mumbai court in August 2007, in connection with the July 2006 Mumbai train blasts. His family now stays in Saudi Arabia.
The Mumbai ATS had claimed that Daware had provided vital logistical support to the prime suspects who blew up trains in Mumbai.
An ATS official said Pune’s excellent connectivity and proximity to Mumbai and easy means of communication have made it a favourite spot for surreptitious activities.
Secondly, with Simi increasingly using Pune for logistical support to carry out operations elsewhere in the country, it never figured on the terror map.
Inspector Peter Lobo told DNA that the ATS was still trying to ascertain the role of Feroz Pathan in connection with the Ahmedabad blasts. The ATS has seized about 40 books of jehadi literature from him.
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