The arrest of two men belonging to the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) and the Indian Mujahideen (IM) has yet again set the police on a hunt for the several sleeper terror cells in Karnataka.
During the course of interrogation, the Crime Branch sleuths found that IM operative Mohammad Kafeel Akhtar was lodged in Tumkur for several days before he came to Bengaluru to execute the Chinnaswamy Stadium blasts.
Tumkur has been on the police radar and several combing operations have been conducted in the district to look for IM operatives who are said to be active. It is believed that the IM operatives have been taking the help of locals who sympathised to the cause. “It is true that Tumkur has been a safe haven. Even Kafeel stayed there for several days before he was sent to Bengaluru for the stadium blasts,” said DCP-Central Crime Branch Mr Krishnamraju.
The al-Badr terrorist group that had made an unsuccessful plan to blow up Vikasa Soudha almost six years back, is still said to be active in the state. The other arrested terror suspect, Syed Abdul Rehman, got in touch with LeT operatives in Pakistan through Fahad of al-Badr, an offshoot of the LeT. Pakistani national Fahad was caught in 2006 while plotting an attack in Bengaluru and Mysore.
The revelation that both were planning to go to Pakistan highlights the fact that the sleeping cells of LeT and al-Badr have connections and handlers in the city. Crime branch officials are still investigating the involvement of possible suspects in the city. “We have specific information on which we are working and there are suspected sleeper cells active in the state. We have kept a watch on things and hence quick action is being initiated,” said a senior officer from the police intelligence department.