PUNE, 16 May 2006 — The latest seizure of huge quantity of deadly RDX explosives and sophisticated arms from nine alleged terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Aurangabad and Nasik districts of Maharashtra is a clear indication that it is not selective districts that are the targets of the terrorists but the entire state faces a threat from these elements, said Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R.R. Patil, while addressing a meeting of senior police officers from the Marathwada region in Aurangabad on Sunday night.

“Till today, the government believed that it was only Bombay, the financial capital of the country, that was under threat from the terrorists, but the picture had changed completely after the huge seizure of arms and explosives in Aurangabad and Nasik, which proves that the entire state is now under terrorist threat and is their target,” said Patil.

It is not yet clear as to which terrorist organization is behind the transportation of explosives and arms in Maharashtra, but the police have arrested nine people in this connection, Patil said and added that the government had decided to set up two units of the Anti-Terrorist Squad in Aurangabad and Nagpur, which will function under the control of the Anti-Terrorist Squad of Bombay.

Giving a clean chit to the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and stating that it was not involved in terrorism activities, he said Aurangabad was not a terrorist center.

Speaking about bomb blasts near Muslim religious places in Nanded, Parbhani, Jalna and Purna, that took place two months ago, Patil said the matter would be handed over to a specialized unit and to the Anti-Terrorist Squa.

Meanwhile, in another significant related development, the Anti- Terrorist Squad with the help of Crime Branch police, late Sunday night swooped on a shop in Azadnagar in the Muslim majority town of Malegaon, and seized 12 kilograms of RDX, five AK-47 rifles, 10 magazines, 2,000 cartridges, CDs, photographs and other materials. This raid was carried out following sustained interrogation of the four suspects arrested in Nasik. They told the interrogators that the arms cache was not meant to hit targets in Nasik, but the purpose was to hide it in a safe place in Malegaon.

The police also arrested, a 28-year-old medical practitioner, Dr. Sharif Muhammed Shabbir Ahmed, resident of Bajrangwadi in Malegaon in connection with the Indica car which the terrorists used to escape. The police said that it was proved that Dr. Ahmed was an underground activist of SIMI and seized a mobile and a diary from him.

Following the arrest of Dr. Ahmed and his interrogation, the police raided the residences of four other alleged SIMI activists Riyaz Ahmed Muhammed Ramzan (36 years), Mushtaq Ahmed Muhammed Ishaque (25 years), Javed Ahmed Abdul Maji (28 years) and Afzal Khan Nabi Khan (26 years), and arrested them, while the police are interrogating a fifth youth Noor-ul-Duha Shams-ul Duha (27 years).

A senior police official said since the arrested people are “speaking up,” many more arrests are likely in the coming days.