Author: Times News Network
Publication: The Times of India
Date: May 14, 2006
In a major breakthrough in the Aurangabad
terrorists' case, the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) on Saturday recovered 50
hand grenades, one AK47 rifle and 200 bullets hidden under a culvert, five
kilometres from Manmad on the Manmad-Ahmednagar highway The cache is believed
to be part of the consignment which was seized from a Tata Sumo in Aurangabad
on Tuesday.
Saturday's find followed the discovery of
an abandoned Indica car near Malegaon (Nashik district) on Thursday night.
The car was used by suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists to flee from Aurangabad
police on Tuesday night. On the same night, the Aurangabad rural police and
the ATS seized 11 AK-47 rifles, 33 kg of RDX explosives and 800 live cartridges
from a Tata Sumo which was travelling along with the Indica.
While the three persons taken into custody
in Malegaon on Friday were suspected activists of the banned Students Islamic
Movement of India (SIMI), the hunt continued for two suspected terrorists
who had travelled in the Indica. While Abdul Azim, who was driving the Tata
Sumo surrendered on Friday, the police are still looking for Jabeer Ansari
who is said to be the LeT's key man.
ATS chief K P Raghuvanshi, who had visited
the area on Saturday, said: "It appears that the explosives had come
from Pakistan and were being sent to Naxalite areas in Andhra Pradesh."
After giving the slip to the Aurangabad police,
the Indica carrying the terrorists was believed to have passed through Shirdi
in Ahmednagar district, before entering Yeola in Nashik district, and reaching
the Ankai Fort area, Manmad and Malegaon, where it was abandoned.
Meanwhile, in Aurangabad, an ATS team conducted
searches at the homes of three suspected LeT members. The team, led by ACP
Dattatraya Dhavale and assisted by a team of local police headed by ACP Sudheer
Dabhade, is believed to have seized books, CDs, video cassettes and a diary
containing phone numbers from Dubai and Pakistan. The ATS also arrested four
Persons from Manmad on Saturday
