Although the officials avoided to reveal any information on the grounds it would hamper investigations, police sources said the duo was arrested following an alert from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to the Maharashtra police two months ago. The alert had said that some terrorists had sneaked into Mumbai to execute an act of terror. The information from the IB was based on a tipoff.
The ATS kept a watch over the activities of the alleged terrorists and monitored their phone calls. Once the sleuths were convinced of the duo's intentions, they swooped on the hotel where the two were staying and arrested them.
The sources said the ATS recovered maps and other information from the two about the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC), which is one of the important nuclear plants of the country and the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) oilrigs situated in the Arabian Sea, and of some important defense installations in Mumbai.
During the initial interrogation, it was revealed that the BARC and ONGC were the alleged terrorists' main targets. They had finalized their line of action and the first of their attacks was to be on the ONGC oilrigs. The ATS also found out that the two had made several calls to Karachi in Pakistan during the last few days to get instructions and directions from their handlers.
The accused told the ATS that they were all set to blow up ONGC oil and gas tanks in the city and also had plans to blow up the BARC nuclear plant.
The accused also revealed that they had surveyed the sensitive locations of the BARC and ONGC at Sewree and at Neva Seva seaport after their Pakistani handlers - one of whom they identified as Kunna Uncle -ordered them to carry out the attack at the earliest.
