The Hindu : National : LeT "militants" held

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 28, 2006

National

National

LeT "militants" held

Devesh K. Pandey

NEW DELHI : Two suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives, who had allegedly supplied explosives for terror attacks in Hyderabad and onboard Shramjivi Express last year, were arrested at the Delhi railway station on Sunday.

Delhi police claim to have recovered three kg of RDX, two electronic detonators, two pistols, Bangladeshi passports and Rs. 40,000 of fake Indian currency from them.

Following a tip-off that the militants would arrive in Delhi from Kolkata on board the Howrah Express, a police team laid a trap on the Ajmeri Gate side of the station and arrested them. They were identified as Anishul Murshlin and Muhibbul Muttakin, twin brothers from Faridpur in Bangladesh.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that in 1995 when they were pursuing studies in a madrassa, a Peer Baba, associated with the Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJI), encouraged students to join the "jehad." They were impressed by his teachings and joined the organisation in 1999. Under HuJI chief Mufti Hannan they targeted a Communist party meeting in Dhaka, killing six people in 2001. Later in the year, they triggered blasts at a Chayanat cultural festival killing 10 persons.

Joint Commissioner of Police Karnal Singh said that in 2001, the accused were also involved in two other strikes, including the one on the office of an Awami League leader Shamim Usman at Narainganj, in which 20 people were killed.

In 2003, their group carried out two more strikes on festivals. The same year, the duo met Gulam Yajdani alias Naved of Hyderabad, who fled to Bangladesh after eliminating senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Hiren Pandya in Gujarat.

In October 2004, the duo was involved in an attack on the former Bangladesh Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, in which 22 people were killed.

The two confirmed that through Yajdani, about 14 persons from Hyderabad had been sent to Pakistan to undergo training in the Inter-Services Intelligence-run camps.

They began working for him and in June 2005, they along with their accomplice, Ahsan Ullah Hassan, provided explosive material smuggled into India to Yajdani.

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