The ATS is considering the arrest of Mohammed Riyaz Nawabuddin a prize catch.
According to police, Nawabuddin and his associate Mohammed Ali alias Abu Osama, who was gunned down, were planning to target shopping malls and theatres during the Ganpati season.
Osama and Nawabuddin, the police said, were the citizens of Pakistan, but Nawabuddin was senior to his associate in their self-styled hierarchy. Both were executors of modules, prepared to carry out attack at various places, and used to report to an unidentified authority in Pakistan.
A senior officer from the ATS said the two were part of a bigger conspiracy to systematically target the island city.
“The conspiracy was hatched about a couple of years ago. The various targets included the city’s transport system and its financial backbone,” said the official.
According to the police, the duo, who has been staying at Antop Hill for the past 10 days, had come to India via train route in November of 2004.
The cops are now on a lookout for the people who provided them logistical support in the city.
“We have seized a Maruti car from Riyaz. When we tried to locate the owner of the car, we discovered it carried a fake registration number. We are now looking for the people who provided them accommodation and other support,” said a senior officer from ATS.
The cops are trying to ascertain whether the two were from the Lashkar-e-Taiba or the Jaish-e-Mohammad.
According to the police, around 20 people formed part of the module, which included Riyaz and Osama. They communicated via e-mail, where coded instructions were stored in the draft folder for those knowing the password to the account.
“All the members used to travel together but were dispersed in the area and used to stay in a group of two. They had come to India a couple of years ago after getting training from various camps in Pakistan. Every day, there was a meeting between the members and the venue of the meeting was scribbled in coded language which is mostly of numbers designated to various venues where the meetings were supposed to be held,” they added.
Police say Riyaz and his accomplices had been staying in an unoccupied flat (circled) for some time
Riyaz was arrested in a Tuesday morning raid at an abandoned building at Antop Hill following a tip-off