HVK Archives: Secret meet over World Trade Centre bomb
Secret meet over World Trade Centre bomb - The Mumbai Age
Shankar Ramachandran
()
16 January 1997
Title : Secret meet over World Trade Centre bomb
Author : Shankar Ramachandran
Publication : The Mumbai Age
Date : January 16, 1997
The police department and the home ministry have been warned by the
Intelligence Bureau that a series of bomb blasts will take place in
Mumbai on January 26, Republic Day, - a threat that led to a top
secret meeting of the police with heads of targeted institutions on
Monday, and made real by the seizure of RDX from New Delhi on
Sunday.
The IB report has warned of a threat to the World Trade Centre, at
Backbay reclamation. "However, we have covered all other important
commercial places in the city like Air India, Pancharatna diamond
market and Seepz," a highly placed source said. He also revealed
that the police are continuing searches at many places in the city
for detonators and timers. joint commissioner of police (crime)
R.S. Sharma when contacted refused to comment on the issue.
On Monday, January 13 at 11 am, senior officials from the above
mentioned institutions met with commissioner Subhash Malhotra and
joint commissioner of police (law and order) Charan Singh Azad at
the city police headquarters at Crawford Market. Mr Charan Singh
Azad informed the officials present that the police had received
information on Friday, January 10, of a bomb threat to these places
in January, most likely on January 26.
One of the men present at the meeting said, "We were also told that
RDX could be exploded even a month after placement, so the bombs
could already be in place. We also discussed steps we had to take
as precautionary measures in our organisations. The police told the
men gathered that it would send sniffer dog squads.
When The Asian Age asked security officer at the World Trade Centre
Mr Verghese about security arrangements on the phone, he said,
"What you are asking for is top secret. This cannot he revealed
over the phone." He said he would reveal details in person on
Thursday. When contacted, at his office on Wednesday, Mr Azad
denied the meeting had taken place.
However, a senior police official said that the bomb blast threat
was genuine and a very serious one.
Ten kilos of RDX, four pencil timers and 10 detonators were
recovered from two men, allegedly of Dawood Ibrahim's gang, in New
Delhi on Sunday, one of the men caught had spoken to Dawood aide
Chhota Shakeel, according to information from an STD booth near his
house.
Top officials at Seepz confirmed the threat, saying that sniffer
dogs from the bomb squad have been pressed into service to check
the Seepz campus, where the police has prevented photography.
Precautions have been taken following a report from the
intelligence bureau that important buildings in the city would he
bombed on Republic Day. According to sources, security has been
beefed up in these important places as bombs were placed in the
same places kept during the last blast. Also, the earlier serial
bomb blasts in the city on March 12,1993 had taken place during the
month of Ramzan.
Speaking to The Agian Age, the joint commissioner to police (crime)
R.S. Sharma said, "Though two persons have been arrested by the New
Delhi police, we will continue our search operations on important
points in the city." It is believed by the police that the 10 kilos
of RDX seized from two men of the Chhota Shakeel faction of Dawood
Ibrahim's gang caught in New Delhi was meant for Mumbai.
Police sources say that tight security will continue till the month
of Ramzan is over, on February 10.
The precautions are also being traced to the arrest of certain
persons at the border by the BSF a few days ago, who revealed that
terrorists had sneaked into the city to carry out this operation.
Meanwhile, employees in the offices at Seepz are writing off the
threat as a joke. Harassed by the increased security arrangements,
the growing traffic to get into the campus, thus delaying them for
work, they comment with sarcasm, "You know why there is traffic in
the city. Because there is a bomb threat."
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