BENGALURU: The Opposition Unity meeting, held on July 17 and 18 in Bengaluru, may have been a target for the five people who have been arrested on suspicion of terror activities by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police. When they did not succeed, they had planned to carry out major blasts in the city in the next two days, initital investigation has revealed.
The police are likely to produce the arrested Suhail Ahmed, Mohammed Faisal Rabbani, Mohammed Umer, Syed Mudassir and Zahid Tabrez before a court later in the afternoon and seek their custody for 14 days. If the police had been a day late in arresting the accused, Bengaluru may have witnessed a major terror attack, sources said.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was constantly being briefed by Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara and the state intelligence wing of the police.
All the arrested are residents of Bengaluru and were among the 21 accused in the 2017 kidnap and murder of Noor Ahmed in RT Nagar and had undergone a jail term. They had been placed in the cell for terrorists where they were brainwashed and drafted into carrying out terror activities and had planned to carry out blasts after their release.
The five terror suspects were arrested when they were meeting near Suhail’s house in Sultanpalya near the Masjid-e-Mukarram on 3rd Main, Bhuvaneshwari Nagar, Sultanpalya. Four of the accused and two women were living in the house for the last three months.
The police seized two satellite phones, seven countrymade pistols, 47 rounds of live ammunition, four grenades from them and also recovered evidence linking them to terror groups and the Jamat-e-Islami. They were imparted training by their handlers while they were lodged in Parappana Agrahara Central prison. The police have seized DVRs from near the houses of the accused on Tuesday afternoon, citing a chain snatching case.
The mastermind Junaid Ahmed, who is absconding, is a history-sheeter in RT Nagar police station and has cases registered against him for murder, attempted murder, kidnap, red sanders smuggling among others. He came in touch with terror groups while serving jail term in the 2017 murder of Noor Ahmed. The police believe his is currently abroad.
Meanwhile, the wife of terror suspect Suhail Khan said that some people took him away three days ago and that the family knew nothing. “My husband was working as a welder, but he would not go to work while I used to go for work. My husband is facing two cases and there is nothing else apart from that. All this is the handiwork of Junaid and he is blaming my husband”, she claimed.