|
Plot to kidnap and kill leaders: Dawood's aide, four others held
 The Western Range police have claimed to have foiled a "major plot" to kidnap and assassinate prominent political leaders in the region with the nabbing of alleged gangster Rasheed Malbari (38) from the neighbouring Kasaragod district of Kerala along with four of his associates. Others arrested were: Sayaf T.A. (25) and Mohammed Hasim (28) of Kasaragod, Sahib Ibrahim (27) from Kaup in Udupi district of Karnataka and Sahil Ismail Sheik (23) of Thane district in Maharashtra. Director-General of Police Ajai Kumar Singh said Rasheed was a member of the Dawood gang who took orders from gangster Chota Shakeel. Rasheed was coordinating attempts to disrupt the general elections by kidnapping and perhaps even assassinating prominent political leaders in the fray. "They were plotting to attack politicians taking advantage of the confusion that generally prevails on the campaign trail," Mr. Singh said. The police suspect that the gang might also have had links with terrorist outfits. On a tip-off from the State and Central intelligence agencies, a special squad of the Western Range police, intercepted a vehicle coming from Kasaragod at the Talapady check-post on the outskirts of Dakshina Kannada district early on Sunday. The occupants of the vehicle, Sayaf T.A., Mohammed Hasim and Sahib Ibrahim, were nabbed. A pistol and some lethal weapons were recovered from the vehicle. Their interrogation revealed they were on their way to conduct a reconnaissance trip. The information led to the arrest of Rasheed and Sahil Ismail Sheik from a hideout in Kasaragod. Rasheed was wanted by the police of several States and Interpol in connection with a string of assassinations and murders allegedly committed by him since 1996. He was suspected of having been involved in the 1998 shootout in Bangalore's K.G. Halli, which led to communal riots. He was also believed to have carried out the 2000 shootout in Bangkok, where rival Chota Rajan was targeted. In 2005, he allegedly killed Chota Rajan's aide Balu Dokre in Kuala Lumpur. Mr. Singh said Rasheed entered India about nine months ago via Nepal and had been evading the police dragnet. "He recently contacted his handlers abroad who assigned him the task of kidnap for ransom and assassination of prominent political leaders, by raising a local team." All the arrested were produced before the court and they were now in police custody. Mr. Singh announced a cash reward of Rs. 2 lakh for the police officers involved in the raid. Posted by: Fred 2009-03-31 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=266446 |