More arrests likely in terror case, NIA tells court
KOCHI: Ater nabbing nine suspected Al Qaeda operatives including six from West Bengal and three from Kerala, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) informed the court that more arrests are likely in coming days.
In the application seeking custody of the terrorists nabbed from Kochi, NIA told the court that more than 10 members of the gang have been identified. All the members of the gang spoke Bengali.
They were planning to organise large scale atacks in various parts of the country, NIA stated in the court. The court granted custody of the accused to NIA until 11 am on Tuesday.
All the accused have been taken to Delhi on Sunday aternoon flight.
The NIA has been in Kerala for a week looking for five people alleged to have direct links to the Al Qaeda. It has managed to arrest three of them and is searching for the remaining two.
NIA had registered a case on Sept.11 in New Delhi based on an intelligence report that Al Qaeda was planning a series of explosions in various parts of the country. On Friday, raids were carried out in Kochi and West Bengal simultaneously.
Murshid Hasan, Mosharaf Hassan and Yakkub Biswas, all migrant workers from West Bengal were arrested from Perambavoor, Kochi, while six were arrested from Murshidabad in West Bengal.
Those arrested from Murshidabad are Najmus Sakib, Abu Sufiyan, Mainul Mondal, Leu Yean Ahmed, Al Mamun Kamal and Atitur Rehman, all residents of Murshidabad.
Laptop, mobile phone, pamphlets were recovered from their possession. According to reports, Mosharaf was working in a textile shop as manager in Perambavoor and was living there with his family for the past eight years.
The second person arrested from Ernakulam, Yakub Biswas had arrived in Perambavoor about two months ago and was working at a tea stall.
Yakub, who studied till class 3, does not know how to read or write, according to his roommates. A calm and gentle person, who was not very talkative - this is how Murshid Hasan’s neighbours at Pathalam described him.