The Hindu : National : Another massive arms haul in Maharashtra

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006

National

National

Another massive arms haul in Maharashtra

Special Correspondent

Hunt on for the supposed kingpin of the terrorist module

MUMBAI: The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra police has made another big haul of arms, ammunition and explosives, this time at Malegaon in Nashik district, and nabbed five more persons but is still looking for Jameeruddin Ansari, the supposed kingpin of the terrorist module involved in providing the weapons to planners of big strikes.

On Sunday night, the ATS sleuths picked up Shareef Mohammed Shabbir Ahmed, an activist of the banned organisation, the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), who had harboured the second car, an Indica, used by the gunrunners. The first, a Tata Sumo, was captured last Tuesday along with its cache.

Other finds

Earlier, the police had found the Indica abandoned near Malegaon and had picked up four activists of the SIMI. Their interrogation had led them to Dr. Shareef Ahmed who was contacted by the occupants of the Indica that they would like to leave the car under his care. The car contained weapons, which were later hidden in an electrical shop, and Dr. Ansari used the car for a couple of days. He then abandoned it.

On Sunday night, the police raided the shop in Malegaon and the raid yielded six Ak-47 assault rifles, 1,000 rounds of ammunition, 13 kg of RDX and 10 magazines. The police had also seized the cell phone and diary of the doctor.

Together with the earlier two massive hauls, the total seizure includes 16 Ak-47 rifles, 43 kg of RDX, 3,200 rounds for the rifles, 50 hand grenades and 80 magazines. The number of arrests has gone up to ten, all from Aurangabad and Malegaon.

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