Bengaluru: Syed Ismail Afaaque, Saddam Hussein and Abdus Sabroor, the suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives who were arrested on Thursday, were picked up based on revelations made Yasin Bhatkal, the co-founder of the IM.
Sources in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) said that Yasin, who is currently in Tihar jail, was questioned for seven hours after the Church Street blast on December 28 that killed one woman.
“Following the Church Street blast and growing threat perception across the country and as the Republic Day is nearing, a team of IB officials visited Yasin in the jail on Monday.
He was thoroughly grilled for several hours together. Questions were framed based on the inputs the IB had, and he revealed that many of his men were still active.
When he was questioned further about his men, he revealed the growing role of Afaaque, Saddam and Sabroor in IM,” a source said.
“Soon after his interrogation was over, the team put more men and resources on the job to track down the trio.
Startling information was revealed through intelligence sources that the trio were already in possession of explosives. Senior officers took a call not to waste anymore time tracking them but to arrest them immediately.
By Wednesday, the officials from Delhi had reached the city and exchanged the information with city cops. The very next morning, on Thursday, police teams had reached the suspects' homes,” the source explained.
Describing it as a very swift operation, the source further said that the explosive substances that were recovered were highly combustible.
“The cache of explosives which we recovered is probably the most dangerous and most powerful that our teams have ever seized until now.
All the three accused were active members of the IM and they had destructive plans to kill hundreds of people and create terror during the Republic Day. They had plans to carry out attacks in multiple cities including Bengaluru. This is one of the most crucial and timely operation we have done,” the source said.
Further, the source added that there will be more arrests as the accused trio have built a massive network of IM. “It is revealed that they were paid heavily by their handlers in Dubai,” the source added.
