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| India-Pakistan |
| Yahoo software engineer sent terror emails: Mumbai Police |
| 2008-10-06 |
| MUMBAI: In what is touted as the 'biggest manhunt' in India, the Mumbai police on Monday claimed to have nabbed key members of the terror module allegedly responsible for the bomb blasts in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and planting bombs in the diamond city of Surat. At a packed news conference, Mumbai police commissioner Hasan Gafoor and crime branch chief Rakesh Maria credited ordinary citizens - more specifically, Muslims - with providing key information that led to the arrest of 11 suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists from Pune, Mangalore and Mumbai. The top cops, who were flanked by a team of more than 30 crime branch officials involved in the operation, revealed that three of these suspects were directly involved in sending terror emails that had shocked the country for the past one month. "These are all highly qualified, computer-savvy people belonging to good and educated families. Their families were not aware of their activities," said Maria. One of the suspects, Mohammed Mansoor Asgar Peerbhoy (31) alias Mannu, a resident of Pune, was employed with Yahoo as a principal software engineer. "He speaks good English and was responsible for finalising the draft emails before they were sent from three different locations in Mumbai. His annual pay package is Rs 19 lakh," said Maria. The two others are Mubin Shaikh (24), a senior technical advisor in an information technology company, and Asif Bashir Shaikh alias Mehmood (22), a mechanical engineer. The police also arrested Mohammed Akbar Ismail Chaudhary alias Yakub who drove them from Pune to Mumbai. Anti-terrorism squad chief Hemant Karkare said interrogation of an accused nabbed by the Delhi police after the controversial encounter in Jamia Nagar had revealed that IM was planning a blast in Mumbai on October 26. Police sources also claimed that timely action had averted a terror attack in the city during Navratri on October 4. The Mumbai police, which launched its own anti-terror drive soon after the July 26 Ahmedabad blasts, have arrested 20 persons in all. Gafoor said that these arrests do not mean that the entire IM module has been wiped out. Earlier, on September 23, the crime branch had arrested five members of an IM module - Sadiq Shaikh, Afzal Usmani, Arif Shaikh, Zakir Shaikh and Ansar Shaih. Maria claimed that interrogation of these accused led to further arrests in Mangalore and Pune. In a joint operation with the Mangalore police, the crime branch last week arrested four persons. One of the main operatives, Riyaz Bhatkal alias Roshan Jamal is still at large. So is his brother Iqbal. Maria said that they have recovered five laptops, three CPU units, three pen drives, sleep-inducing pills, anaesthetic injections, two bullet-proof jackets, country-made revolvers, a radio and WiFi frequency signal detectors, wireless routers, jihadi literature and provocative CDs during the anti-terror operation. According to Maria, the IM module which has been active since 2005, has been motivated by jihadi literature and CDs containing inflammatory material on incidents that happened in other parts of the world besides attacks on the minority community in India. "Most of them have undergone training in Pakistan," he added. Of the arrested, Maria claimed that Ismail Chaudhary drove the vehicle containing explosives from Mangalore to Surat. "Most of the explosives used in the recent blasts have come from Mangalore and another place in south India," he said. Chaudhary identified himself as Yakoob and rented a house, belonging to one Qayamuddin Kapadia in Surat where the bombs used in Ahmedabad blasts and the unexploded ones in Surat were assembled. The top cops claimed that Chaudhary had also planted bombs in Dilkush Nagar in Hyderabad which did not explode. Hyderabad was rocked by a series of blasts on August 25, 2007. Bhatkal himself planted bombs at Gokul Chaat Bhandar at Hyderabad. "The conspiracy to carry out blasts in Hyderabad was hatched during a meeting in Mumbai, which was attended by IM operative Sadiq Sheikh, Riyaz Bhatkal and Ansar Ahmed," he said. Another accused, Anique Sayed, placed the bomb in Lumbini Park in Hyderabad. Abubakar transported explosives from Mangalore to Hyderabad. Maria said two of the bombs did not explode in Hyderabad as the digital timers were not functional. Maria claimed that except Bhatkal and Afzal Usmani, the first arrest that led to the busting of the terror module, none of the arrested accused have a criminal background. On Tauqeer alias Subhan Qureshi, who is part of the terror module, Maria said he paid two visits to Ahmedabad in April 2007 to indoctrinate the other accused. "We are hunting for him," Maria said. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #4 Most of them have undergone training in Pakistan One of these years India will have to do something about this. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-10-06 19:22 |
| #3 Shit, it's been years since I earned that much here in the USA... and that's with a University degree + web design/programming background. :-( |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2008-10-06 18:35 |
| #2 Obvously another sad case of the downtrodden masses rising out of anger and hopelessness to strike back at their oppressors. Grapes of Wrath, all over again. No? Pity. It would have made a good movie. |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2008-10-06 18:29 |
| #1 His annual pay package is Rs 19 lakh That's Rs 1,900,000 or $39,660/year. In India. I suspect another poor, oppressed individual of indeterminate religious affiliation. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-10-06 17:16 |