Prank? terror letter that police cannot ignore
Bengaluru: The letter threatening to unleash 'bloodshed' in the IT and defence capital of the country was found wrapped in a polythene cover and taped to the windshield of a car that was parked in the parking lot of of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Peenya on Wednesday.
ISRO officials immediately alerted police but police officials are downplaying it, saying it's a "prank." Deccan Chronicle which has a copy of the four page letter typed in English and Urdu, learns it has been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory. Security at all vital installations of the city have been stepped up.
Terror threat: Security upped
Though the letter claiming a terror threat was found at the ISTRAC campus, senior officers believe that it was just a prank letter.
A senior police official said generally no terror alerts are specific. “The four page letter has a list of ten specific targets. The first three pages are in Urdu while the last page is in English. But, the English part has no connection with what is written in Urdu. The Urdu part is related to some riots in Pakistan. The letter has also been sent to some regional TV channels. There are also other reasons to believe that it is a prank letter.”
The officer, however, admitted that the situation does not permit them to take the letter lightly. “Now, our focus is just to ensure no such attacks will take place. We are on the job to trace the origin of the letter.”
Additional Commissioner of Police (Law & Order), Kamal Pant said the police had stepped up vigil and conducted checks at vital installations including ISRO. “There is no information from either state or central intelligence agencies about any such attacks. We have provided all possible security to the targets mentioned in the letter.” Home Minister K J George said, "We have taken note of this. It is a very serious issue and we will get to the root of the letters."
Meanwhile, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has beefed up security at all vital installations and entry is restricted to only employees that too after thorough frisking and checking. The terror threat letter was was recovered from a car’s windshield wrapped in a polythene cover at the parking lot of ISTRAC in Peenya on Wednesday. The ISRO officials had immeditely alerted the police about the threat.
The letter stated that terror attacks would be carried out at NAL, HAL, Vivanta by Taj, Leela Palace, Karnataka Administrative House, BHEL, BEL, ISRO, Shivajinagar church and HAL Shiva temple on June 20 and 21.
“We have rebuilt our team and are planning to unleash bloodshed in Bangalore. We have human bombers team, car explosives and other deadly weapons. We have entered the city and are already settled. It’s an activity which will make new history in Bangalore," the letter stated.
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