Suspected LeT militant held in Delhi

The Delhi police are trying to ascertain whether the suspect planned to create disturbances during Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in Maharashtra. They claim to have seized a consignment of chemical explosives, four detonators and two timers from him.

A suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba militant was arrested at the New Delhi railway station shortly before he was to board a train for Maharashtra on Tuesday.

Acting on an intelligence tip-off, sleuths of the Special Cell laid a trap and arrested the suspect at the Ajmeri Gate side of the station around 12-45 p.m.

According to the police, a Pakistani passport identifying him as 27-year-old Yusuf and a Jammu and Kashmir identity card bearing his name as Salim were seized from him.

The police found two types of chemicals, besides the detonators and timers in his baggage. He was carrying a suitcase and a handbag, and the chemicals were stuffed in two boxes of sweets. Some papers containing phone numbers of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan were purportedly seized from him.

It is learnt that during interrogation he identified himself as Mohammad Aslam of Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir.

“We are cross-checking the information provided by him. He could have been assigned the task of ferrying the consignment,” said an official.

The police suspect that the alleged militant recently visited Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. They are trying to find out whether he was trained in assembling improvised explosive devices for, the consignment contained all ingredients to configure a bomb.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the suspect was bound for Aurangabad and was to board a train around 1.30 p.m. The police are trying to find out if he has contacts in Delhi, and have also alerted their counterparts in Maharashtra to launch a hunt for other members of the module.

Security agencies in Jammu and Kashmir have been informed of his arrest.