Author: Somit Sen
Publication: The Times of India
Date: May 14, 2003
The Mumbai police claim to have
neutralised three "modules" of the banned Students Islamic Movement of
India (Simi) that reportedly were assigned by the Lashkar-e-Toi-ba (LeT)
to carry out a series of explosions in Mumbai.
The first module, led by Dr Abdul
Mateen, was allegedly involved in the blast in a BEST bus outside Ghatkopar
station on December 2. The crime branch last December arrested Dr Mateen
and four associates in the case.
The second module, reportedly led
by Saquib Nachen, was involved in the blast in a Karjat-bound fast train
at Mulundon March 13, the police said. The explosion had killed 12 persons
and injured 71 others. Nachen was booked under Prevention of Terrorism
Act on April 10 and the police have arrested seven of members of his module
over the last month. Firearms, including four AK-56 assault rifles, were
recovered from them.
The police claimed that a third
module was assigned to attack Mantralaya. This module was led by Simi activist
Noor Sikander, who has been arrested from Malegaon on Tuesday, an officer
told the TNN. The police have also detained two of Sikander's associates.
"He is a major catch for us after Dr Mateen and Nachen," the officer said.
Sikander's module was allegedly
planning to use poisonous gases to attack politicians and bureaucrats at
Mantralaya, officials claimed. But the plan was called off after senior
inspector Pradeep Sharma and sub-inspector Daya Nayak of crime branch gunned
down three alleged LeT terrorists in Jogeshwari on March 29. Those shot
dead included the militant group's southern commander Abu Sultan, the police
claimed.
The police recovered several diaries
and CDs from Sultan. This led to the arrest on May 11 of Anwar Ali, an
Urdu lecturer at the elite National Defence Academy at Khadakvasla. Ali
had allegedly provided shelter to LeT terrorists and arranged for a meeting
between the LeT and Simi members in Pune.
The police said they also suspect
that LeT and Simi had a hand in the blasts at Mumbai Central station on
December 6 and Vile Parle on January 27. While several persons were injured
in the blast at McDonald's restaurant at Mumbai Central station, one person
died when a bomb attached to a cycle exploded in a market area in Vile
Parle (East).
