Five held with explosives, Coimbatore was target

Based on information during interrogation of the four, the police nabbed Samsudeen, said to be the kingpin of the group and functioning as a ‘cell’, from Ramanathapuram in southern Tamil Nadu. Some cassettes and CDs on the activities of the group and audio cassettes ‘‘indirectly indicating where the bombs were to be hurled’’ were seized from him. Singha said it was ‘‘extremely doubtful’’ 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. ‘‘We are keeping a close watch on the organisation, which has some activities in Dindigul and is headquartered in Chennai,’’ 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 DMK’s ‘‘lenience’’ towards the Al Umma prisoners and jailed PDP leader Abdul Nasser Mahdani, who is being tried in the 1998 Coimbatore blasts case, today’s arrests are bound to cause embarrassment to the party.