LeT suspects held for gold robbery

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Two Lashkar-e-Taiba suspects were held by the crime branch 10 years after the duo brutally attacked a jewellery owner and his two sons and robbed 2.25 kgs of gold in Kizhakkambalam in Ernakulam.

The arrested were identified as K.P. Shabeer (31) of Kannur and Ismail alias Bomb Ismail (33) of Pukkattuppady in Ernakulam.

Shabeer was held from Shimoga in Karnataka, while Ismail fell into the police net when he had come to present himself before the NIA court in Kochi in connection with another terror-related case.

The two, believed to be aides of LeT south Indian commander Thadiyantavide Nazeer, along with seven other men attacked Mathew John, owner of Kachappilli jewellery on June 20, 2002. According to the police, the robbery was carried out to raise funds for the LeT activities in Kerala.

Mathew John and his two sons were attacked when they were returning home in a Kinetic Honda after closing their shop. A group of nine persons attacked the three with swords and fled the scene with the bag containing the gold. The gang had also thrown bombs at the local people who arrived at the scene.

After fruitless, three-year long investigation conducted by the local police, the crime branch took up the case. The police also said that Thadiyantavide Nazeer was the mastermind behind the Kizhakkambalam attack. Shabeer’s brother and an accused in several terror and murder cases, Sabir was the person who led the attack.

The other six were members of the terror outfit Al-Uma. These people were killed in an encounter with the police during the Bengaluru bomb blast case. Ismail, allegedly a kingpin in the terror outfit, is an accused in several murder attempt and counterfeit currency cases.

The duo was arrested by a crime branch team comprising superintendents Muhammed Faisal, P. Unniraja, Dy SPs P. Prakash, P.M. Varghese and investigation inspector Biju K. Stephen.

We used to make bombs, say suspects

Shabeer and Ismail, the two Lashkar-e-Taiba suspects arrested by the crime branch, told the police that they used to manufacture bombs in a house in Paravoor.

The gelatine sticks and the detonators used for the manufacture were provided by a metal crusher owner in Kizhakkambalam.

“Ismail was the middleman who transferred gelatine sticks and detonators from Kizhakkambalam to Thadiyantavide Nazeer. These items were then moved to the house of Tajuddin in Vedimara in Paravoor. Nazeer, along with Sabid, was the person who manufactured all the bombs,” said one of the top sources in the crime branch.

Tajuddin is in a Bengaluru jail now in connection with a bomb blast case there. Several bombs, used for the blasts in Bengaluru, Kozhikode and Coimbatore, were believed to be manufactured at the house in Paravoor.

The police source also said that the terror outfit had conducted several robberies in south India, in a bid to raise funds for its operations.

The police believe that the arrest of the two terror suspects would help them solve several murders and robberies in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.