BOMBAY, 15 May 2006 — The state Director General of Police P.S. Pasricha pointing a finger at terrorists infiltrating Maharashtra from across Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, alleged that the police suspected a “foreign hand” behind the huge quantity of assault rifles and deadly RDX explosives seized three days ago in Aurangabad and Nasik districts.
Pasricha, the guiding hand behind the operations of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Bombay police, said from investigations and interrogation of the eight arrested suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists so far, it was revealed that foreign agents were involved.
He said foreign agents, an indirect reference to Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), were sneaking in from across the borders of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
“We are working on the case and we will go to the roots and we will also get details about how the explosives and arms were procured, who are behind this and what exactly they are up to,” Pasricha said and added that detectives have been deployed at several locations to track down the other members of the terrorist network.
Asked if Aurangabad, a tourist center, was the target of the terrorists, Pasricha said it was too early to say anything.
“There are sleeper cells and active modules, which operate in Maharashtra. The terrorists wanted to store the huge quantity of arms and ammunitions to be used at an appropriate time, may be in Maharashtra or outside. The seized material was currently for storage, but to be used later, he said.
To a question of whether the arrested alleged terrorists were member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba or the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Pasricha said that it would be too premature to say that. The police have obtained the remand of the accused and their interrogation is in progress, but what we have gathered from initial state is the involvement of foreign agents and that they had played a role.
To reveal as to how many sleeper cells function in Bombay and other parts of Maharashtra, Pasricha said that this would again be a wild guess. The question is not of numbers but more important is to know that how such elements create communal trouble by carrying out subversive activities. The intention of the terrorists is well known. They target vital installations and there are several soft targets. One should bear in mind that National security is important to all of us, he said.
Replying to a question whether the terrorists are trying to target interior Maharashtra, Pasricha said that the police were concentrating a lot on different aspects. Recently there have been explosions in Nanded and explosives were also recovered in Buldhana. The ATS, Pasricha said is concentrating on certain areas of Marathwada region, and said that the state police were also keeping a close watch on Nanded, which is a communally sensitive town, in view of the huge congregation of Sikh community to be present during the tri-centenary celebrations of their holy scripture Guru Granth to be held in 2008. “ As the intention of the terrorists groups is to foment communal trouble, the police are full prepared to tackle it” Pasricha concluded.
