5 suspects held along with firearms, explosives

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths on Wednesday nabbed five people who were allegedly radicalised by a terror suspect who is already imprisoned in the city.

Based on credible information from the Karnataka Intelligence Bureau, a raid was conducted during which the CCB officials confiscated a huge consignment of firearms and ammunition alongwith 12 mobile phones from the place where the accused were staying.

Soon after the operations, Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda in a conference said, "The Central Crime Branch has succeeded in busting the anti-social forces and foiled their nefarious designs. They were arrested after raiding a place under Hebbal police station limits," he said. 

The suspects identified as Sohail, Umar, Zahed, Mudassir and Faisal, have been arrested and booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Later they were taken into 15-days police custody.

The Bengaluru Police Chief said that the men were arrested from a house near a place of worship in Kanakanagar area of Sultanpalya. The CCB officials raided the place and seized seven country-made pistols, 45 live cartridges, several walkie-talkie sets, 12 mobile phones and a dagger.

However a prime suspect, Junaid, is on the run.According to the police, the suspects were radicalised by Thadiyantavide Nasir, an alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba commander, who is currently lodged in Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru.

The suspects were linked to Nasir through Junaid, who is currently living abroad. Nasir was one of the accused in the Bengaluru serial blast case of 2008.

Police Commissioner Dayananda said that the suspects were habitual offenders and were previously arrested in cases such as murder, robbery, smuggling of red sanders among other crimes.

The police officer further said that during their time in the prison, they were introduced to T Nasir, who allegedly has links with Pakistan-based terror outfits Lashkar-eTaiba.Junaid, who is holed up abroad, was accused of killing his business rival Noor Ahmed in 2017, Dayananda said.

In that case, 21 people were arrested including the five terror suspects, he added.