National Investigation Agency (NIA), Counter Intelligence Cell sleuths of Telangana and a CID special investigation division team in a joint operation detained four terror suspects from hideouts in Chennai and Madurai.
The terror suspects were inspired by al-Qaida and had planned to target at least 22 VVIPs including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The investigators also seized explosive materials from their hideouts. They said the suspects were responsible for five blasts in courts across south India.
NIA sleuths announced detention of three offenders in Madurai and Chennai on Monday. They are examining another suspect as well.
Among the detained are the 23-year-old gang leader Dawood Suleiman – a TCS software engineer from Karimsa Pallivasal in Madurai. The others were identified as Abbas Ali, a house painter, and Samsum Karim Raja, a B.Com graduate with a chicken shop, in Madurai. During the Madurai raid, two other suspects managed to escape.
According to the investigating officers, the suspects are a part of a group called ‘The Base Movement of al-Qaida.’ In first attempt, the suspects targeted a parking lot of a district court complex in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, on April 7. They then carried out a blast in a car park at a chief judicial magistrate’s court at in Kollam, Kerala, on June 15.
The suspects also carried out a blast in a court complex in Mysuru, Karnataka, on August 1 and another blast in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, on September 12. A blast was also reported in the toilet of a judicial magistrate’s court at Malappuram in Kerala, on November 1.
“They were inspired by al-Qaida activities in the Gulf countries,” said an investigating officer as per a report in TOI. “After the Nellore and Malappuram blasts, police found that they had left behind propaganda material for ‘The Base Movement’ at the crime scenes on pen drives and pamphlets.”
Another suspect M Ayub Ali, 25, a native of Island Nagar in Madurai was nabbed by NIA officers. The officials said they have seized some devices like cell phones and hard discs. The suspects will be produced before local courts in Chennai and Madurai to seek transit remand to take them to the NIA special court in Bengaluru.
