Mumbai, May 3
The police busted two terrorist training camps backed by militant outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and seized a huge hidden reserve of lethal weapons, including four Kalashnikov assault rifles and dangerous chemicals, during operations on the outskirts of the city in the past two days.
With this and the arrest of six Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) suspects over the past fortnight, the police today claimed to have solved the Mulund local train blast case in which 11 persons were killed.
Using the leads provided by the suspects, the police seized the Kalashnikovs, two country-made revolvers, 85 live cartridges and chemicals used for making explosives, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal told reporters here. Mr Bhujbal, accompanied by Mumbai police chief Ranjit Sharma, said the chemicals included 1 kg of potassium cyanide and a lot of highly active sulphuric acid, nitric acid and ammonium nitrate.
The police also seized casing of two grenades, Mr Bhujbal, who also hold the Home portfolio, said two training centres of terrorist groups on the hilly outskirts in the adjoining Thane district had been busted by Crime Branch-CID sleuths.
The camps, being run by SIMI activists since 2001, were backed by the Lashkar-e-Toiba and at least 12 persons had been trained at these centres. Currency worth Rs 5 lakh (in Rs 500 denomination) has been seized from there, Mr Sharma said, adding that ‘’it is hawala money’’.
The six persons arrested are Saqib Abdul Hamid Nachan, Atif Nassir Mulla, Habib Jubair Mulla, Gulam Akbar Abdul Sattar, Mohammad Kamil Mohammad Jamil Shaikh and Farhan Abdul Malik Khot.
Mr Sharma said the prime accused, Nachan, who surrendered before the court and was later arrested, and the five others, were all members of a module whose aim was to target VVIPs, important buildings and carry out suicide attacks of the Akshardham kind.
The Deputy Chief Minister said the chargesheet in the case would be filed in a few days. Stating that the Ghatkopar bus blast and the Mulund train blast were linked, he said four persons have been arrested in the Ghatkopar case while six had been arrested in the Mulund case.
UNI
