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“Ultras were on terror mission”

Arunkumar Bhatt

Recovered RDX enough to trigger serial blasts in six places

MUMBAI: The two suspected terrorists of Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI), shot dead by the police here on Tuesday night, possessed two kg of RDX, enough to trigger serial blasts in six places.

The encounter occurred on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the March 12, 1993 terror attacks.

The terrorists were gunned down at Kashimira off Mira Road in Thane district in a joint operation by the Pune and Mumbai units of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra police.

ATS chief and Inspector-General Hemant Karkare told journalists here on Wednesday that the duo was moving about with a pre-determined plan to strike at sensitive installations in Mumbai.

The ATS believes that the two were couriers as well as attackers. A Bangladeshi passport found at the site established the identity of one of them as Mohammad Ali. The identity of the other is yet to be established, but the ATS calls him Babu. The police also found fake currency, one Smith and Wesson revolver and a pistol, besides RDX.

Mr. Karkare said: “It is a major success for us and we are taking the investigations further.”

Mohammad Ali, who had crossed over to India three days ago, came under the surveillance of an intelligence agency. The Pune ATS unit got the tip-off and soon joined its Mumbai counterpart.

But, ATS sources said, the duo’s link with the HuJI was yet to be fully established.

Currency officers of the Reserve Bank of India have been asked to examine the fake notes to find out whether these were linked to earlier seizures. About a fortnight ago, ATS sleuths arrested six Bangladeshis who were carrying fake notes with a face value of Rs. 1.78 lakh. Earlier, the Railway police also seized fake currency. Mr. Karkare said a forensic laboratory was analysing the RDX to determine its quality and match it with seizures made earlier.

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