Five held with explosives, Coimbatore was target

The Tamil Nadu Police today claimed to have foiled a 8216;8216;terror plan8217;8217; in Coimbatore by rounding up five people.

The Tamil Nadu Police today claimed to have foiled a 8216;8216;terror plan8217;8217; in Coimbatore by rounding up five people. Those arrested include three members of an extremist outfit called the Manitha Needhi Pasarai MNP. Explosive substances meant for at least 8216;8216;three targets8217;8217; in the textile city were recovered from them.

Coimbatore Police Commissioner Karan Singha said over telephone that following a tip-off, four youths were rounded up from the heart of the city and some improvised explosive devices, two metal pipes packed with explosives, small iron balls, battery wires, tapes, some electronic detonators and country bombs were seized from them. Photographs of 8216;8216;some Hindu radical youths8217;8217; and some 8216;8216;surveillance notes8217;8217; were also found.

Based on information during interrogation of the four, the police nabbed Samsudeen, said to be the kingpin of the group and functioning as a 8216;cell8217;, from Ramanathapuram in southern Tamil Nadu. Some cassettes and CDs on the activities of the group and audio cassettes 8216;8216;indirectly indicating where the bombs were to be hurled8217;8217; were seized from him. Singha said it was 8216;8216;extremely doubtful8217;8217; if this group had links with any of the known terrorist organisations.

Busted in October 2004, the MNP is known to indoctrinate Muslims youths with hate literature. The police believed the outfit had foreign funding and was a resurrection of the banned SIMI. 8216;8216;We are keeping a close watch on the organisation, which has some activities in Dindigul and is headquartered in Chennai,8217;8217; Singha said. He, however, dismissed reports that the MNP had links with the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, a DMK ally.

With the spotlight already on the ruling DMK8217;s 8216;8216;lenience8217;8217; towards the Al Umma prisoners and jailed PDP leader Abdul Nasser Mahdani, who is being tried in the 1998 Coimbatore blasts case, today8217;s arrests are bound to cause embarrassment to the party.