Rampur strike modules arrested, eyed on BSE

The Special Task Force met success Sunday in nabbing six Lashkar-e-Taiba militants from Lucknow and Rampur, when three of them were about to leave the Lucknow Charbagh railway station to Mumbai to carry out strike at the Bombay Stock Exchange, Churchgate and other massy places.

The arrests commenced on Saturday night, when three terrorists arrested in Rampur. Rest of the terrorists picked up on Sunday on the further leads from them.

Four of these six terrorists were arrested for their involvement in the terrorist attack on the CRPF camp in Rampur on January 1, Uttar Pradesh police said.

The UP police said of these six militants, two belong to Pakistan. Passport, maps of Mumbai and railway tickets to Mumbai have been recovered from these six militants. The STF also said that two assault AK-47 rifles, hand grenades, RDX and a pistol were found from their possession during the arrest.

The mastermind of the Rampur CRPF militant raid was the 27-year-old Shabbir Ahmad alias Salahuddin, a former management student from Bihar, whose name was also involved in the December 2005 attack on the IISc, Bangalore, UP police said.

UP DGP Vikram Singh said Sabauddin alias Abu Qasim, arrested in Lucknow, was also responsible for the attack on the IISc, Bangalore, on December 29, 2005. One scientist was killed in the attack.

“The module had plans to attack the Bombay Stock Exchange and Churchgate area and another CRPF camp near Bareilly,” he added later.

UP DGP Vikram Singh told reporters at press conference that STF got a clue that two of the four LeT militansts involved in Rampur terror attack were planning a series of fresh strike on BSE, Mumbai, Churchgate station and a temple in south Mumbai and were hiding somewhere in the Bareilly-Rampur area.

STF also got informed that one Jung Bahadur alias Baba of Milkamaru locality in Rampur was coordinating their movements. Cops picked him up on February 9.

The other two militants identified as Faheem and Mohammad Shareef were also picked up on Saturday night at the revelation of Jung Bahadur.

The other three militants arrested subsequently on their interrogation identified as Sabauddin Ahmad of Madhubani in Bihar, Amar Singh of Gujranwala in Pakistan, and Abu Sama of Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

The architect of Rampur terrorist strike, Shabbir had come in touch with Lashkar activists during his visit to Bangalore, where he was studying in Management College. “He left the study and travelled to Pakistan for four months’ militant training and formed the militant module in India after arriving here,” said ADG Lal.

LeT then sent a militant from Nepal to Bangalore attack, which was identified by Karnataka police as Abu Hamza. Shabbir, familiar with the city, rented a house there and organised the logistics, said Lal. Rampur attack was planned after Shabbir’s return.

According to the government statistics a number of terrorists still present in the state. More than 80 modules have been defused in the last three years in the state.