Pak based terror module busted in Delhi, six arrested

New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) The Special Cell of Delhi Police said on Tuesday that it has busted a Pakistan-based terror module and arrested six persons, including two people who were trained in Pakistan.

Furnishing details of the multi-state operation, a Delhi Police Special Cell official said that they had received inputs from the central agencies that a conspiracy was being hatched to conduct terror strikes in major cities of the country.

After receiving this input, the Special Cell constituted a team under the supervision of DCP Pramod Khushwaha and ACPs Hridya Bhushan and Lalit Joshi.

"After analyzing human and technical inputs, we realized that it was a very big network that was spread in different states. On Tuesday morning we concluded this operation by conducting multiple raids in different states," Special Commissioner of Police, Special Cell, Neeraj Thakur, said at a press briefing.

The first person named Sameer, hailing from Maharashtra, was arrested from Kota while he was travelling in a train while two other were nabbed in the national capital. From more human and technical inputs, the Special Cell in close cooperation with the Uttar Pradesh Anti Terrorist Squad (UP-ATS) conducted raids in the state and arrested three more people.

Thakur said of the six arrested, two had been taken to Pakistan via Muscat where they were trained to use explosives and firearms, including AK-47. "The training continued for 15 days after which they returned to Muscat. They revealed that during their training in Pakistan, there were also 14-15 Bengali speaking persons in their group," the special cell official said.

Thakur said that it seems like the terror operation was closely coordinated from across the border. He said the module was divided into two teams.

"One team was given to the underworld which was being coordinated by Dawood Ibrahim's brother, Anees Ibrahim. Their task was to get the arms from across the border into India and keep them concealed. The second team was asked to arrange funds via Hawala," the officer said.

The Special Cell informed that one person out of the six arrested was given the task to identify locations in major cities of the country where they could carry out the terror attacks during the forthcoming festival season.

"The Special cell is interrogating the suspects and a further probe is on," the official added.