Old database hurdle in tracing terror operatives

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which is on alert following the Varanasi blast, is trying to trace activists of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

But many of these activists are no longer to be found at their addresses recorded at police stations. The ATS and the local police are thus having a tough time tracing them for questioning.

Officials said that the police are required to keep a tab on the activities of a banned outfit’s former members. Their addresses and whereabouts also need to be updated frequently. But sources told DNA that the police hardly fulfil this requirement and that security agencies wake up only when there is a terror attack in the country.

SIMI was banned in 2002 for indulging in anti-national activities. But its members have been operating under different pseudonyms. The Indian Mujahideen (IM), which claims to be behind blasts in Ahmedabad, Delhi and Jaipur over the past few years, as also the one in Varanasi earlier this month, has activists who are former SIMI members.

According to an estimate, there are more than 20,000 activists and sympathisers of SIMI in the country. In Mumbai, areas like Saki Naka, Kurla, Dongri, Mumbra, etc are known to be hotbeds of SIMI members.

Officials said that some SIMI members are also said to have close links with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed, two Pakistan-based terrorist organisations.