The Hindu : National : A chance arrest, say police

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 01, 2006

National

National

A chance arrest, say police

Special Correspondent

They stopped Shah after he alighted from the Mumbai-bound Dadar Express

IN THE HANDS OF THE LAW: Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Shami Ahmed Shah being brought to the office of the Superintendent of Police in Gulbarga, Karnataka, on Friday. — Photo: By Special Arrangement

GULBARGA: The arrest of the suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, Shami Ahmed Shah, here was made "by chance," the Karnataka police said on Friday.

Superintendent of Police K. Ramachandra Rao told presspersons that the police had no prior information from either the Central or State agencies about the movements of any terrorist.

Security was stepped up at the central bus stand here and the railway stations in the district following an intelligence report, received a month ago, that naxalites were conducting a survey of vital installations in the region to launch an offensive.

On Thursday, the police stopped Shah after he alighted from the Mumbai-bound Chennai-Dadar Express at the Gulbarga station. He said he was a tourist from Goa. But when the police tried to open his bag, he warned them that it contained explosives, which could go off. His identity was confirmed during further questioning at the nearby Station Bazaar police station, the police said.

School dropout

Shah, who hails from Mumbai, is a high school dropout. He worked as a car mechanic. He and his family shifted to Goa some time ago.

He visited Mumbai, Hyderabad, Goa, Warangal, Tandur (near Hyderabad) and Zaheerabad in Andhra Pradesh before coming here in December 2005 to set up a house in the Jilanabad area.

Mr. Rao said Shah, during his stay here in the last four months, had attempted to recruit Muslim youth but failed. The police were cross-checking the information he provided and whether the Lashkar recruited any youth to carry out disruptive activities.

Shah has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. A high-level police team from Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Mumbai, and Bangalore will interrogate him.

Special team formed

A special investigation team, headed by Additional Superintendent Ravikumar Naik, would investigate Shah's antecedents and his activities in the State.

There were many loose ends in his statements, Mr. Rao said. Raids would be conducted in his house in Goa. His relatives, including his wife and parents, would be questioned. The police team, which nabbed him, raided the safe house at Jilanabad and recovered video and audiocassettes.

Shah reportedly told the police that weapons were supplied to him by a person in Ahmedabad and that he was returning to Gulbarga via Mumbai.

He said since he could not get a direct train to Gulbarga from Mumbai, he took a train to Guntakal, where he boarded the Dadar Express.

Shah was reportedly given the code-name "Ajmal Katak" by the Lashkar.

The police told The Hindu that he remained unruffled throughout the interrogation. "No pressure was mounted on him to reveal his activities so far."

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail