Author: Mateen Hafeez
Publication: The Times of India
Date: May 11, 2006
Officers of the antiterrorism squad (ATS)
in the city have said the three suspected terrorists arrested in Aurangabad
on Wednesday were carriers transferring firearms and ammunition from one place
to another. The police are now on the lookout for a man from Beed who was
supervising the delivery.
Senior inspector Sunil Deshmukh of the ATS
said the three accused, Ameer Shakeel Shaikh (30), Sayyed Zuber Anwar (26)
and Mohammed Muzaffar Tanvir (24), residents of Juna Bazar in Aurangabad district,
took instructions from the 'missing' man.
Shaikh, a Class IX dropout, ran a Chinese
foodstall at Juna Bazar. The key accused from Beed, whose identity has not
been disclosed, would visit the foodstall. "The trio was used as carriers
since they do not know how to use firearms and were never trained in bomb
making," said Deshmukh. Shaikh is said to be a member of the banned Students'
Islamic Movement of India.
While Anwar was a student of Arabic, Tanvir
ran a cutlery shop and also used to driver all three knew each other.
"The consignment kept in a Tata Sumo
between Chandod and Manmad on Tuesday. The key accused instructed the trio
to travel in the Sumo and said he would follow them in his car. We suspect
that he fled or changed his route when he realised that the Sumo was being
chased by the police," Deshmukh said.
The vehicle (MH-14 X 4380) was hired by the
key accused three days ago from Beed. A mobile number (9822297687) written
on the window of the car was not reachable.
Meanwhile, the police raided the house of
the key accused in Beed but could not find him there. "The accused had
asked the trio to deliver the consignment outside Aurangabad where a third
party was supposed to take over," a source said. The consignment, the
police suspect, was smuggled from Pakistan. It was supposed to be sent to
Jammu.
"When we asked the driver to stop the
car he sped away at 140 km per hour and did not even pay octroi at two toll
naka's. Moreover, their vehicle hit the toll naka's barricade near Kannad
and the accused were nabbed only after a hour and a half long chase,"
an officer said.
The ATS also conducted searches in Mahim and
Grant Road in Mumbai but could not find any specific leads.
