Surat comes to a standstill

A day after the seizure of explosive material from Varachha, Kapodara and City Light area in Surat, while primary...

A day after the seizure of explosive material from Varachha, Kapodara and City Light area in Surat, while primary and secondary schools remained closed, less attendance was witnessed in many colleges in the city on Monday. The diamond market in Varachha as well as shops in textile markets at Ring road were shut. As asked by the police, multiplexes and shopping malls did not function, and gardens were also not opened. Surat Police Commissioner RMS Brar said, 8220;We don8217;t want to take any chances. From Tuesday, shopping malls and public places will function as usual. Security guards have been told to keep a strict vigil and inform police if they find anything suspicious.8221;

Fear grips Chennai

Following the arrest of Sheik Abdul Gafoor, who was in the process of manufacturing improvised explosive devices, from Tirunelveli district on Sunday, police arrested Heera alias Kasim of Tirunelveli from Chennai a few hours later. Another person, Abdul Khadar of Mannadi, has also been detained. According to police sources, Kasim was a known offender, who was lodged in Puzhal Central Jail. The police in Madurai recovered one kilogramme of explosives buried on the side of the Madurai-Pandikoil bypass based on the information provided by Gafoor, said sources. Police Commissioner R Sekar warned those who were spreading hoax messages, with one such speaking of a possible attack on Sunday.

Kerala seeks aid

After reviewing the security arrangements in the state, the Kerala Government on Monday decided to seek Union Government8217;s aid to modernise the police force. Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said the Government had taken a serious note of the terror threats. Meanwhile, a youth who threatened to blast naval ground in Kochi was held from Kozhikdoe.

Prank lands kid in jail

A prank played by the juvenile son of a person of Nepalese origin in Orissa landed him behind bars after he sent an SMS to a TV channel claiming that Kolkata was next on the target of the terrorists.