Crime Line : Arrested IM men plotted to attack ATS HQ

Asad visited madrassas to recruit members for IM

Neeraj Chauhan & Mateen Hafeez TNN

New Delhi/Mumbai: In a startling relevation, investigators have learned that the three Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists, arrested for the August 1 Pune serial blasts, had conducted a recce at five crowded places in Mumbai on July 24.

The targets included Borivli railway station, Juhu beach, Vashi, Bandra and Andheri. They had even planned
to attack the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) headquarters at Nagpada.

    The Nagpada ATS headquarters is located near the J J flyover. It houses the office of the ATS chief, an additional commissioner and a DCP. This ground-plus-one building is a heritage structure. Security was reviewed at the ATS headquarters after the revelation.
    In their confession to the special cell, exclusively accessed by TOI, the trio—Asad Khan, Imran Khan and Sayed Feroz—disclosed their Mumbai plan in detail. “On July 24, 2012, we hired a private Sumo from Pimpri to Vashi,” they said.
    Investigators suspect their plan was to target the crowded places by keeping bombs in dustbins or bags.

5 crowded spots in their sights

• Juhu beach

• Borivli railway station

• Vashi

• Bandra

• Andheri

Module initiator has German Bakery ties
The three arrested IM terrorists said during their interrogation, “We went to Vashi from Pimpri and stayed there for a while looking around. From Vashi, we went to Bandra and stayed there for a while and then we went to Andheri and stayed there for 10-15 minutes. From Andheri, we went to Borivli station and hung around for 10-15 minutes. Then we went to Juhu Chowpatty for 10 minutes and checked the surroundings there.”

The Mumbai plan was dropped, though, on the instructions of Riyaz Bhatkal from Pakistan. The trio subsequently headed for Pune. They ultimately planted bombs in Pune on August 1 but sources said that “the Indian Mujahideen’s original plan to kill Sharad Mohol and Ashok Bhalerao, who killed Qateel Siddiqui in Yerwada jail, is still on”.
In another revelation during interrogation of the trio, the Delhi police found that the main initiator of the module, Asad Khan, was linked to IM terrorists arrested in the February 2010 German Bakery blast of Pune and the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.

Sources said the three had met Yusuf Himayat Baig, who was arrested by Maharashtra ATS for the German bakery blast, in December 2009, through Kashif Biyabani, brother of Akhef Biyabani who was arrested for the 2006 Aurangabad case. Lashkar-e-Toiba leader Fayyaz Ahmad Kagzi had escaped in the case. Sources say that the two terrorists in this IM module—Shaqir and Ahmed who are absconding—were involved in previous blasts too.
The trio was questioned by the Maharashtra and Pune ATS on Friday at the special cell’s Lodhi Colony office. Sources say they have got some vital inputs about Maharashtra-based IM members.

TERROR INTENT
    The three Indian Mujahideen terrorists arrested for the August 1 Pune serial blasts had conducted a recce at five crowded places in Mumbai on July 24
    These included Borivli railway station, Juhu Chowpatty, Vashi, Bandra and Andheri
    They had even planned to attack the Maharashtra antiterrorism squad (ATS) headquarters at Nagpada
    The ATS headquarters is located near J J flyover; it houses the office of ATS chief, an additional commissioner and a DCP
    Security was reviewed at the ATS headquarters after the revelation
    Investigators suspect they planned to keep bombs in either dustbins or bags

Pune bombers approached Kagzi to join jihadi activities

Police To Keep Eye On Madrassas

Neeraj Chauhan TNN
New Delhi: Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Fayyaz Kagzi, said to be the mentor of Indian Mujahideen (IM) module busted by the Delhi police, did not engage the Asad Khan, Imran Khan and Sayed Feroze, the three members from Maharashtra, in IM. The three themselves approached Kagzi as “they were motivated to join jihad”. The interrogation report of three terrorists — exclusively accessed by The Times of India — states that Asad wanted to work with IM, and since he knew that Fayyaz Kagzi of Beed (Maharashtra) was an active member, he himself started looking for him. To reach Kagzi, they approached Kashif Biyabani, brother of Akhef Biyabani who was co-accused with Fayyaz Kagzi in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case and had been arrested by the Maharashtra ATS.

Asad’s interrogation report reads, “In August 2009, we (Asad, Imran and Feroz) met Kashif Biyabani in connection with the business. We asked him whether he knew any person who was involved in Jehadi activities. Kashif gave me the number of Fayyaz Kagzi, who was in Saudi Arabia. After taking the number, we discussed among ourselves and went to Saudi Arabia to meet Kagzi”.

The report further talks about how he met Yusuf Himayat Baig, who was involved in Pune German bakery blast of February 2010. Sources say Biyabani is under the scanner for allegedly arranging these meets of new members with Kagzi. Sources said the three arrested IM members had gone to Saudi Arabia several times to meet Kagzi where “they used to discuss about 2002 Gujarat riots and atrocities on Muslims in India for hours”. Sources said Kagzi had told them that they would be “used whenever required”.

Sources said that in past few months, Asad and others also met two persons identified as ‘Ghulam Rasool’ and ‘Hafiz’, but the purpose of the meeting is not yet known.
Since then, Asad turned into a motivator and started visiting madrassas and mazars to look for people inclined towards jihad.

In a latest decision taken by intelligence agencies to stop IM’s recruitment process, all the state police departments have been asked to keep a watch on such motivators. It has been decided that “a watch should be kept by local police on young boys attending madarssas in their respective localities and students from other states residing in the madarssas in metro cities should be accounted for”, said a source.