Arrested trio were in touch with bomb-makers in Mumbai

ATS probe reveals Ansari was in contact with top Laskar man and key suspect in the Aurangabad arms haul case Junaid

The Anti-Terrorist Squad ATS officers investigating the 7/11 serial blasts in Mumbai told The Indian Express today that the three men arrested in the case till date were in contact with the bomb-makers in Mumbai.

Sources in the ATS also said that one of those arrested, Kamal Ahmed Ansari, had met a man named Junaid, a key Lashkar operative who was controlling the Aurungabad module that was busted by the ATS in May. A huge quantity of arms and RDX was seized from the module.

Junaid is suspected to have been involved in the bomb blast on the Karnavati Express in Gujarat in February. On Friday morning, the ATS announced its first breakthrough in the case, with the arrest of three suspects. While Ansari 32 and Khalid Aziz Ronak Sheikh 24 were arrested from Basupatti village in Madhubani district of Bihar, Ansari8217;s brother-in-law Mumtaz Ahmed Maqbool Ahmed Choudhary 38 was arrested from Navi Mumbai. They have been remanded to police custody till July 30.

8216;8216;Investigations reveal that while the three arrested men may not have known the identities of the bomb-planters, they were definitely in touch with the bomb-makers in Mumbai, and Mumtaz might have even met them here. We are interrogating them in this connection,8217;8217; said an ATS officer.

According to the ATS, of the three men, Ansari is the most important catch, as he is likely to provide vital leads about where and when the whole conspiracy was hatched.

8216;8216;The role of the trio is that they were among the conspirators, and may have arranged for the explosives to reach Mumbai. Ansari is a second-tier operative, functioning below a commander. Around three years ago, he had gone to Pakistan via Nepal, where he met Junaid. The other two are fourth-rung hands, and assisted Ansari in his plans,8217;8217; said the officer.

The ATS has recovered three mobile phones from the trio, and phone records reveal a number of calls to and from Nepal and Bangladesh. The three men also kept in touch daily before the blasts.

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According to sources, one of Mumtaz8217;s tasks was to indoctrinate young people with religious fanaticism, in order to recruit youths for local sleeper cells. 8216;8216;Being a tutor, he had access to impressionable young minds ready for the purpose. When we asked him why he was out from 7 am till 11 pm practically every day, he told us that he was busy with tuitions all day,8217;8217; said an ATS officer.

According to ATS officials, the three arrested men may be asked to identify the only unidentified body that is lying unclaimed in Sion Hospital. The ATS is awaiting a sketch of the deceased, whose facial features are being reconstructed by forensic experts. An e-mail allegedly sent by an Islamic outfit named Lashkar-e-Qahar to a TV channel on last Tuesday claimed that 16 8216;8216;brothers8217;8217; of the outfit had planted the bombs, and that one of them had died in the blasts.