Kerala - Kozhikode   

Vigil stepped up against terrorists

KOZHIKODE: The police in north Kerala have stepped up vigil against the activities of extremist outfits following the arrest of a suspected Hizb-ul Mujahideen operative Althaf Mohammed Khan from Kumily in Idukki district last week.

District police chiefs as well as intelligence wings have been asked to keep an eye on the members of terrorist outfits disguising as migrant-labour groups and traders from other States.

The arrest of Altaf proved the long-held suspicion of the police that activists of various terrorist outfits were seeking shelter in the State, said Kundan Singh Jangpangi, Additional Director-General of Police, North Kerala.

The police are aware that terrorist groups from Jammu and Kashmir and others such as Maoists and Naxalites explore the possibilities of maintaining links with like-minded groups in the State. The links enabled many of these organisations to create safe hideouts in many parts of the State.

“So far, the police have not been able to establish whether any of the terrorist outfits have links with any organisations in the State,” he said.

Mr. Jangpangi said that the police would step up surveillance at entry points of the State apart from railway and bus stations, hotels and tourist centres.

Intelligence gathering had been improved with special branch officials at the district and State levels being given specialised training.

The police had already initiated the process of creating a database of migrants in the districts of Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Palakkad.

The veracity of the details furnished by migrant labourers and their contractors were being checked with the police stations in their native places.

Over 10 lakh people from various parts of the country were working in the State, the police said

Intelligence wing sources said that Hizb-ul Mujahideen was very close to the Jamaat-e-Islami in Kashmir and Pakistan.

It was originally called Al Badr. It was later rechristened Hizb-ul Mujahideen, said sources.

The Karachi-born Mohammed Fahad who was arrested by the Mysore police for plotting to attack the Vikasa Soudha in Banglore and the Central Institute of Indian Languages in Mysore was a suspected Al-Badr terroristm they said.

This chemical engineer is the son of Abdulla Koya who migrated to Pakistan from Kozhikode during the Indo-Pak war.

He was planning to establish a base in Kozhikode with the support of several Islamist outfits in the State.

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