7/11 accused had 2nd attack planned

The Anti-Terrorist Squad of the Mumbai Police has not only cracked the 7/11 serial blasts case, but apparently has also averted another "big" attack, which was being planned, claimed the Joint Commissioner of ATS K.P. Raghuvanshi today.

The Anti-Terrorist Squad ATS of the Mumbai Police has not only cracked the 7/11 serial blasts case, but apparently has also averted another 8220;big8221; attack, which was being planned, claimed the Joint Commissioner of ATS K.P. Raghuvanshi today.

Though the accused have still not revealed the details of the second attack, the police say it may have been anywhere 8220;in or around Mumbai.8221; This was revealed after the police started investigating as to why were some of the accused still in the city even after they had played their role in the blasts and despite the fact that police were zeoring in on them.

8220;We were surprised to note that some accused arrested in the case had not left Mumbai even about three months after the attack. Normally accused either go underground or leave the city where an offence is committed,8221; said an ATS officer.

ATS Chief Joint Commissioner of Police K.P. Raghuvanshi said, 8220;Investigations reveal that some accused had left Mumbai but returned soon, while two had gone underground and were hiding in Antop Hill after the blasts. Though nothing much can be revealed at this point of time, investigations suggest that they were planning more attacks in and around Mumbai.8221;

An ATS team had on August 22 gunned down Mohammed Chirag alias Abu Osama and arrested Mohammed Riaz Nawabuddin. The police had also seized an AK 47, a pistol, five cartridges, 72 rounds of the AK 47 and five kilograms of ammonium nitrate. According to the police, the two accused were Pakistanis and involved in the 7/11 bomb blasts.

According to the police officers, most of the accused left the city after the blasts but returned within a month. During questioning, Dr Tanvir Mohammed Ansari, a Unani practitioner who was arrested from Byculla on July 24, revealed that the Bombay Stock Exchange and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquaters at Nagpur were on their target list. He said he had procured chemicals for making explosive devices at the behest of another accused Ehtesham Siddiqui, former general secretary of the Maharashtra unit of the banned Students8217; Islamic Movement of India SIMI. 8220;All the accused who were involved in the blasts were in the city long after the blasts, which is quite unusual. And we are following certain leads as to which could have been their probable targets,8221; added Raghuwanshi.

During interrogations, Mohammed Riaz had also allegedly revealed that they had planned to attack Siddhi Vinayak temple at Prabhadevi and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. The police had recovered a map of Mumbai city from the accused with the two places marked with a pen, which the ATS claims were their next targets. Following this, the police had beefed up the security at both the locations.