By IANS,
New Delhi : With the arrest of a Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) militant and seizure of explosives, Delhi Police Thursday claimed to have averted a major terrorist strike in the capital, but they still have no clue of seven kg of RDX buried somewhere in the city.
Sleuths of Delhi Police Special Cell arrested Abdur Rehman from the New Delhi Railway station Wednesday night. Following his interrogation, they recovered 3.1 kg of RDX, five detonators and one timer device buried near a mosque in D Block of Janakpuri area in west Delhi.
Rehman told the police that Nata, a commander of the Bangladesh-based HuJI, had handed him 3.1 kg of RDX in January 2007 near a mosque at Dabri in southwest Delhi to carry out explosions in the capital.
He said Nata also gave seven kg of RDX to ‘Rocky’, whom he doesn’t know, for the same task.
Police Special Cell sources said they were trying to trace two HuJI militants who are active in the capital.
“We don’t know anything about Rocky yet. The remaining seven kg of RDX could be anywhere in the capital or outside. We have no clue,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Karnal Singh said.
Rehman during his interrogation revealed that in 2002 he came in contact with Babu Bhai, a resident of West Bengal, who motivated him to join militancy. In October 2002, Rehman and Babu Bhai went to Bangladesh and then to Pakistan on Bangladeshi passports, Singh said.
“In Sindh, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) imparted him a three months’ special training in handling AK-47, China LMG, TT pistol, rocket launcher, grenade, sniper rifle, SLR and use of P-3, TNT, RDX for making improvised explosive devices (IED), with timer and detonator,” he added.
Rehman was also trained in making petrol bombs and other time-bombs using watches. After completion of his training in Pakistan, he returned to Bangladesh, Karnal Singh said.
Nata then assigned Rehman the task of carrying out terrorist activities in various parts of India and also to incite youth for militancy.
After returning from Bangladesh, Rehman motivated one Naushad, resident of Bijnaur in Uttar Pradesh, for militancy and took him to Kolkata. He then introduced Naushad to Babu Bhai for training in Pakistan.
During this period, Rehman worked as muezzin in various mosques in western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
In August 2005, Nata asked him to shift his base from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh to Delhi, where he worked as a muezzin in a masque of southwest Delhi.
The top police official said Rehman then started providing safe hideouts to HuJI militants in the capital. Babu Bhai and Nata visited him several times at the mosque and stayed there for some time.
In January 2007, Nata handed over to him a consignment of explosive material for terrorist activities in Delhi.
A few months later Babu Bhai, Naushad and their other accomplices were arrested in Uttar Pradesh, and their terror strike plan in Delhi could not materialise.
Soon after these arrests, Rehman buried the consignment of explosives at a spot in Janakpuri and left the city.
He went underground and shifted his hideout to various places in western Uttar Pradesh. During this period he contacted Nata, who, however, directed him to stay there and to receive a terrorist, Shabbir Ahmad.
Rehman was further directed to lead terrorist activities with Shabbir. But Shabbir was arrested in Delhi with a consignment of explosive.
In September 2007, Nata directed him to come to Bangladesh as the police had arrested Babu Bhai, Naushad and other associates. He escaped to Bangladesh after illegally crossing the border from Murshidabad area.
In Bangladesh, Nata received Rehman and managed his stay at Dhaka. He stayed there for a few months and early this month he was again specially trained in making IEDs and bombs for blasts.
Finally, Nata tasked him to use the buried explosive material for causing blasts in Delhi.