The U.S., French and New Zealand embassies will be provided enhanced security after inputs ‘expressing concern over their safety’ due to a variety of reasons ranging from the impending visit of President Barack Obama to a stray email threatening an attack emerged over the last week, a source in the intelligence establishment said.
The source was, however, quick to add that the said inputs were of the ‘general’ category and there was no ‘specific alert’ about an impending attack on any of these establishments.
“Security at the French embassy, we have suggested, be beefed up in view of the Charlie Hebdo episode while the suggestion about the New Zealand embassy pertains to a complaint about the receipt of an email threatening an attack,” said an intelligence official.
According to the source, the embassy received an email from a sender posing as an Lashkar-e-Toibaoperative threatening to ‘blow it up’ last week; the sender chose not to say why he would target the said embassy leading those concerned to treat as a possible prank.
But concerns surrounding the safety of the French embassy were fuelled after two continuous days of rioting triggered in Niger in relation to protests against the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo . “We don’t want to take any chances and are in the process of drafting the input which will be despatched to the Delhi Police latest by Monday,” an official said, adding that the high-alert imposed on the Capital, due to security apprehensions surrounding the visit of Mr. Obama on January 25, was leading to similar suggestions almost on a routine basis.
Meanwhile, a source said, the intelligence and police establishments were keeping an eye on immigrants of Bangladeshi-descent settled in the NCR over possible links with the Jamat-Ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh following the arrest of two men, one of whom hailed from that country, in December last year.
“Among the two men was Rakatullah whose interrogation revealed that a JMB module from that country was undergoing training by the IS and had been tasked with executing a terror operation in the Capital,” said the official. Seven men from the said module, the source said, were understood to be in hiding along the Indo-Bangladesh border and concerns about their intentions had been communicated to the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence through the NIA.
