Leader of banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) Adnan alias Hafees, the man who allegedly planned and coordinated terror activities in North Karnataka, has escaped with arms and explosives, giving the state police sleepless nights. Investigation into the terror cases has revealed that Adnan played a crucial role in organising terror activity in the region. The police are clueless about his whereabouts. A resident of Station Road in Bijapur, Adnan is the son of a KSRTC driver. His brother stays in Annasandrapalya in Bangalore.
AdnanÂ’s role
He organised and motivated several youths including arrested terror suspects Mohammed Asif, Asadullah Abubaker, Shakeel and Allabaksh to take up jihad; organised regular meetings; introduced Pakistan-trained Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative Riyazuddin Nasir alias Mohammed Ghouse to the arrested terror suspects and to other people; and supplied explosive materials to the activists.
Based on the information of Asif, the police recovered a hand grenade, 100 gelatin sticks and 100 electrical detonators from the Dharwad-Uttara Kannada forests. Adnan had given them to Asif and helped him hide them in the forests. Asif has told the investigators: "He gave me the explosives and told me that it was my share. I do not know how many people he has distributed it to." Besides, he had hidden four pistols in AsifÂ’s hostel room (58) at KIMS in May 2007.
Adnan is missing after the arrest of Ghouse and Abubaker at Honnali in Davangere. Before fleeing, he went to AsifÂ’s room and collected the pistols. "His phone is switched off from January 14. We do not know where he is," said a CoD officer.
How he organised
Adnan had taken Asif to Madhya Pradesh and introduced him to SIMI leaders. During April-May 2007, Adnan had organized a meeting at Castle Rock, a picnic spot on the Karnataka-Goa border. Thirty two members from Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala attended the meeting. Iqbal from Uttar Pradesh and Sibli from Kerala, both national-level leaders of the banned SIMI, attended the meeting along with Asif, Asadullah Abubaker, Mirza, Shakeel and Munna. The leaders spoke on total Islamisation of the world and how it can be started from India. The provocative speeches focused on the plight of Muslims in Palestine, the Gujarat riots in India and the Babri Masjid blast and asked for defying man-made laws.
During the meeting, Iqbal was elected the national president of SIMI, while Adnan was made in charge of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The meeting resolved to go in for vigorous recruitment, which everyone took and pursued seriously. Adnan along with his friends organised the second meeting in October 2007 in the farmhouse of arrested terror suspect Shakeel on Haliyal road.
Around 15 to 20 members attended it. Third meeting was held during the end of October at a dargah on Dharwad-Savadatti road. This time there were around 15 members. During the same time, Adnan brought Riyazuddin Nasir alias Mohammed Ghouse and introduced him to his members. It was the confluence of SIMI and LeT. The trained Ghouse planned to send these youth to Pakistan for training.