By IANS
Mumbai : Yet another plot to carry out terror strikes in Mumbai has been foiled as the Uttar Pradesh police Sunday morning arrested six terrorists, who were planning to target key installations in the city.
A senior official of the Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh police, who declined to be identified, told IANS by phone that one of the six militants owing allegiance to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is from Goregaon, a northwest suburb of Mumbai.
“The arrested accused, Faheem Ansari, 30, is married and has a child. He lives near the Purana Masjid in Moti Lal Nagar area of Goregaon,” the STF official said.
The Uttar Pradesh police recovered at least eight detailed hand-made maps of several installations in Mumbai that were to be targeted. These include: the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) that is the headquarters of Central Railway, and the Churchgate station which is the headquarters of Western Railway.
In 2004, Ansari went to Saudi Arabia for job and there he is believed to have come in contact with some LeT activists who arranged to take him to Pakistan.
According to his statement before the Uttar Pradesh police, Ansari underwent full-fledged training in Pakistan. He was also rewarded with a Pakistani passport and returned to Mumbai a few months ago via Kashmir.
Some time ago, Ansari took a room on rent at an undisclosed location in south Mumbai to serve as the hub of his activities. A few days ago, he went to Rampur in Uttar Pradesh to collect weapons and explosives for carrying out the terror acts in Mumbai.
“We believe that the terror acts were planned for end of February or early March. But, the plans have been foiled with their arrests,” the STF official said.
Significantly, March 12 happens to be the 15th anniversary of the serial blasts that rocked Mumbai in 1993. The passport recovered from Ansari is at least three years old, indicating his strong links with the LeT.
The other alleged trained terrorists arrested along with Ansari include Amar Singh alias Romej, Ajay Malhotra alias Sehwez – both Pakistani nationals. The remaining trio – Sohel, Sawauddin Sanju and Baba Jung Bahadur – are from Uttar Pradesh.
The police suspect that since Bahadur is not a trained terrorist, he was engaged in providing logistics support to the others.
Ansari’s younger brother is a stationery maker in Mumbai while his other brother works as a zari-designer in Bahrain.
The six-member terrorist module is also suspected to have been involved in the attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp on New Year’s Day at Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, in which eight people, including seven CRPF personnel, were killed.
The Uttar Pradesh police have recovered two AK-47 army assault rifles, several grenades, explosives and a large cache of ammunition from the arrest ed men.
The arrests by the Uttar Pradesh police assume significance in the wake of similar plots coming to light from Goa and Karnataka.
Goa is on terror alert following the arrest of LeT militant Riyazuddin Nasir alias Mohammed Ghouse, who along with his associate Asadullah Abu Bakar was nabbed by the Karnataka police Jan 10.