Three Indian Mujahideen Members Arrested from Bengaluru and Bhatkal; Police Recover Large Cache of Explosives

Three suspected members of terror cell Indian Mujahideen were arrested by the police on Thursday.

The arrested suspects were picked from Cox Town in Bengaluru and from Bhatkal town in Uttara Karnataka district.

The simultaneous raids were carried out by the Bangalore city police based on specific inputs that a terror cell linked to the banned terror group, Indian Mujahideen was planning a terror attack.

In the raid in a house in Bhatkal, the police recovered large cache of ammonium nitrate, detonators, electronic timers devices, digital circuits making material, PVC pipes, gel based explosive material and fuel oil.

The large quantity of explosive materials were meant for making IEDs.

The three arrested IM members have been identified as Syed Ismail Aafaque, Saddam Hussein and Abdul Sabuur.

The police claimed that the accused were allegedly in regular contact with several IM cadres and had specific instructions to carry out terror activities in the country.

The police is now on the lookout for the leader of the group, who reportedly is now on the run.

It is,however, yet to be ascertained whether the three arrested IM members had any role in the 28 December Church street bombing in Bengaluru that killed a 38-year old woman.

Bengaluru city police commissioner M N Reddi said that the investigations are still on and the police as of now do not think that the arrested IM members had a direct link with the Church Street bomb blast.

A senior Bangalore Police official, however, said that the investigation will compare the explosives used at the Coconut Grove blast site with the materials seized from the arrest men from Bhatkal and Bengaluru.