NEW DELHI, July 3: Four alleged ISI agents, believed to be members of the same terrorist outfit who were behind the bomb blasts in Mumbai this year and were planning similar incidents in Andhra Pradesh, were arrested by a joint team of the Delhi and Andhra Pradesh police over the past two days.While Mohammad Salim Junaid, 26, a hardcore member of the ISI-funded terrorist outfit Lashker-e-Toiba, was nabbed on Wednesday, three others -- Mansoor, Shakeel and Ismail -- were arrested today.Delhi Police Commissioner V N Singh said 15 kg of RDX, a sophisticated detonation device, an electronic circuit for fabricating a car bomb, four 9 mm pistols, ammunition and magazines and three wireless sets were recovered from them. The accused have been booked for conspiring to wage war against the country, and under various Sections of the Arms Act, Explosives Act and the Foreigners' Act.
The police is yet to establish whether they were directly involved in the bomb blasts at Coinbatore and Delhi, though there isevidence that other members of the group were behind the Mumbai blasts this year.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that Junaid, who was running the operations of Lasker-e-Toiba from Hyderabad, was planning to replicate the Coimbatore blasts in Hyderabad on August 26.
Junaid is also a close associate of Abdul Karim Tunda -- the man believed to have masterminded the Delhi bomb blasts as well as several other incidents -- and Zaki-ur Rehman who is another member of Lashkar-e-Toiba.
While Tunda is still hiding in Bangladesh, Zaki is belived to be in Pakistan. The Delhi police has already requested the Union Home Ministry for initiating Tunda's extradition process from Bangladesh, but nothing has happened so far.
Junaid used to operate under the guise of a transporter in Hyderabad, and had hidden the RDX and the weapons in a false compartment in his truck. The RDX is believed to have been smuggled into India through Bhuj in Gujarat. It was also found that Junaid had come to India from Jhelum inPakistan three years ago. He lived in a south Delhi house for some time before shifting to Bangladesh where he was trained by Tunda.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.