Mumbai on high alert,as LeT men sneak in

Mumbai Police said it had information that four Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists had sneaked into the city.

Two days after the Centre issued a terror alert for the financial capital,Mumbai Police said on Thursday it had information that four Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists had sneaked into the city in the past few days and were planning to carry out attacks during the Christmas and New Year festivities.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Himanshu Roy told reporters that the four men had been identified as Abdul Kareem Moosa,Noor Abu Ilahi,Walid Jinnah and Mehfooz Alam. Roy said all four were aged between 20 and 30 years,and released a picture of Jinnah for the public to inform the police if he is spotted. The city had been placed on a high alert following the tip-off,and the information about the men was “specific” and the threat “serious”,he added.

Acting on this information,we have set up special teams to neutralise this threat and have also come up with a dedicated hotline (2263-3333),so if anyone spots Walid Jinnah they can call this number, Roy said,adding that a large number of policemen had been deployed across the city.

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During the Ganesh festival earlier this year,Mumbai Police had similarly released pictures of two men it said were Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) terrorists who had entered the city. Replying to a question if these two groups were linked,Roy said there was no connection.

The Union Home Ministry had on Tuesday issued a terror alert for Mumbai and Ahmedabad and said it was based on inputs received by the Intelligence Bureau. The alert said that Lashkar men may have stationed themselves in the two cities with plans to strike crowded tourist spots during the festive season.

Parts of South Mumbai,which were targeted during the 26/11 attack,will get an unprecedented security cover in the coming days,including about 1,000 plainclothes police personnel,24-hour CCTV surveillance,access control for local citizens and watch towers near the Gateway of India. Roads leading to the Taj Mahal Hotel will be closed.

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