Arms haul, blasts linked, say cops

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: A link between the Aurangabad arms haul case and the Malegaon blasts emerged on Friday when the anti-terrorism squaed (ATS) revealed the names of three wanted acccused in the Malegaon case.

The ATS in its remand paper said that Mohammed Zahid, Riyaz Ahmed and Ishtiaq Ahmed, all three absconding, were involved in the Malegaon blasts. The brothers of Zahid and Ishtiaq, identified as Mohammed Javed and Mushtaque Ahmed, are lodged at the Arthur Road jail for their alleged complicity in the Aurangabad case.

The ATS had arrested 19 people in the Aurangabad case and seized 43kg RDX, 16 AK-47 assault rifles, 3,200 live cartridges and 50 hand grenades from Auranagabad and neighbouring districts in May this year.

The ATS has already arrested two, Noor-ul-Huda and Shabbir Masiullah, for the Malegaon blasts. The ATS stated that Masiullah had been to Pakistan and had undergone militant’s training sponsored by the ISI.

The police said that Zahid, Ishtiaq and Riyaz were associated with the banned organisation, SIMI. It is learnt that Zahid is absconding for the last two years. He was reportedly the vice-president of SIMI’s Malegaon unit. Zahid, who worked as a powerloom labourer was taken into custody twice during preventive arrests—first in 1999 by the Malegaon city police station and for second time in 2000 by the Ayesha Nagar police station.

The trials in both the cases are pending. Zahid’s brother, Javed, who was arrested from Malegaon in May in the arms haul case, is accused of transporting RDX and AK-47 assault rifles in an Indica car.

The car was driven by Zabihuddin Ansari, alias Zaby, who fled on May 9 and is believed to be in Pakistan.

Aurangabad arms haul case accused Mushtaque’s brother, Ishtiaq who is one of the three wanted accused in the Malegaon blasts case, is said to have been a hawker selling old clothes. In the arms haul case, Mushtaque is accused of unloading the firarms and ammunition and hiding them in an electronic shop.

In the remand paper, the ATS mentioned that the accused in the Malegaon blasts were members of an organised crime syndicate, which had been carrying on unlawful activities in Maharashtra and was associated with international terror outfits.

The Times of India, November 4, 2006