The recent arrest of Aathesham Malik, an alleged Lashker-e-Taiba terrorist, has brought to fore new modus operandi of Pakistan-based terror outfits and ISI in imparting training to manufacture explosive devices using readily available material like fire cracker powder.
Shedding conventional ways of crossing over from Line of Control (LoC), ISI is now using the Wagah border for crossing over of misguided Kashmiri youths who are received by ISI agents and operatives of LeT.
According to Delhi Police officials, a new training module has been introduced by ISI and LeT to fabricate Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) using easily available cracker powder and sulphuric acid.
The 24-year-old Aathesham, who visited Pakistan in December last year for three weeks, told the police as to how he had been imparted the training of mixing cracker powder with sulphuric acid stored in capsules for a delayed time reaction.
Normal scientific equipments like conical flask, beakers and pipette - commonly used in chemistry laboratory - were being used for fabrication of IED, the officials said.
The video recovered from the baggage of Aathesham, who was going to plant an IED in cloth market of Chandni chowk in the walled city of the capital, showed terrorists' instructors teaching fabrication of IED using the firecracker powder, they said.
The officials believe that ISI and other terror groups were looking for more readily available material for manufacturing of the IEDs after the Government came down heavily on loose sale of Ammonium Nitrate, a common explosive substance.
The explosive material used would have been instrumental in creating a fire, which could have possibly gutted the entire cloth market as it was difficult for the fire brigade to enter the narrow by lanes of the old city, police feared.