How they plotted the terror strike

SIMI activists attended a camp at Wagamon in Kerala organised by Safdar Nagori...

• December 2007: SIMI activists attended a camp at Wagamon in Kerala organised by Safdar Nagori, where they underwent training in mountaineering, map reading, motorcycle racing and shooting. A story to mislead the police was read out to all activists in case they were arrested.

• January 2008: The plan for the Ahmedabad blasts was finalised during a meeting in the Pavagadh jungles in Halol Taluka in Gujarat. The state unit of the banned outfit gave final shape to the plan.

• March 2008: Safdar Nagori was arrested from Indore.

• March-April 2008: The Mumbai-based mastermind, IT professional and explosives expert Abdul Subban Qureshi and Kamaruddin Nagori arrived in Ahmedabad and stayed at Zahid Sheikh’s Juhapura home. The trio got in touch with Yunus Mansuri, Shamsuddin Sheikh, Arif Kagzi, Imran Sheikh and Iqbal Sheikh. Imran’s house in Vadodara was used as a shelter for the others and bombs were assembled there. They bought old cycles from Sarangpur, Shah Alam, Dani Limda areas. Five SIMI activists from MP, two from Maharashtra and two others from Karnataka visited Ahmedabad, Surat and Bharuch.

• April-June 2008: The unit was always on the move to avoid detection. The last meeting was held at Zahid’s residence on July 20 in Ahmedabad to finalise who would place the bombs and where. Surat-based SIMI activist Sajid Mansuri and Mufti Abu Bashir also visited Vadodara several times. Qureshi rented a house at Jambusar bypass in Bharuch, and reportedly moved around in a Silver Wagon R (GJ 6 C D ) and a red Wagon R. He arranged for five SIM cards which were used in the Ahmedabad blasts. The breakthrough came after Zahid Sheikh was picked up and he revealed the entire plot to the police. The rest were rounded up soon.

Police personnel seen to control the situation during a massive protest over the statehood demand and the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule, in Leh on Wednesday. (ANI Video Grab)

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