Bengaluru, (IANS) Four suspects of the banned Indian Mujahideen (IM) outfit, who were arrested last week, were part of a terror module and linked to terror outfits abroad, Bengaluru police commissioner M.N. Reddi said Monday.
“All the four IM suspects, who are part of a bigger conspiracy to procure, fabricate and deliver improvised explosives, revealed during interrogation that they were part of a terror module having links with terror outfits abroad,” Reddi told reporters here.
Of the suspects, three – Syed Ismail Afaq, Saddam Hussein and Abdus Subur – were picked up Jan 8, two from the city and one from Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada district, about 480 km from here.
The fourth – Riyaz Ahmed Sayeedi – was nabbed Jan 10 at the Manguluru airport before he could board a flight to Dubai around midnight.
“All the suspects are natives of the coastal town of Bhatkal and are believed to be associated with IM co-founder Yasin Bhatkal.
“Their terror module had received funds through hawala (illegal) channel for disruptive activities under instructions from their handlers hiding abroad,” he said.
Preliminary investigation and background checks revealed that one of the alleged IM operatives received guerrilla training in a foreign country and another worked as a salesman in a hardware firm in Dubai.
“We would not like to name the handlers or the country from where they issued instructions to the local module as it would hamper our investigation,” Reddi said.
Ruling out their direct link to the Dec 28 blast outside a popular restaurant on Church Street, the commissioner said forensic tests were being conducted on the explosives seized from their residences to ascertain whether some of it was used in the blast in which a woman was killed.
A court had earlier sent the suspects to police custody till Jan 21 for further interrogation in the cases registered against the suspects under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Explosives Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Besides explosives (ammonium nitrate), detonators, electronic timer devices, digital circuits, circuit-making material, gas-based explosive material and fuel oil were seized by sleuths of the city’s special crime branch from the homes of the suspects.