10 SIMI men held in MP raid

Continuing its crackdown on the Students Islamic Movement of India,the Madhya Pradesh Police arrested 10 activists from Khandwa when they were allegedly planning a terror strike.

Continuing its crackdown on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI),the Madhya Pradesh Police arrested 10 activists from Khandwa when they were allegedly planning a terror strike.

Five activists,however,managed to escape during the operation conducted late on Monday in the Gulmohar Colony residence of Akil Khilji in Khandwa town.

The members of the banned students organisation were reviewing their future activities in the light of the recent arrests from Jabalpur and Bhopal. The ATS had taken into custody 10 SIMI and the Indian Mujahideen members from Jabalpur,Bhopal and Ratlam.

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The crackdown followed the murder of an ATS constable near Ratlam Railway Station during an exchange of fire with two SIMI activists wanted in connection with the killing of another ATS constable,shot dead in Khandwa in November 2009.

Monday nights arrest and seizure of arms followed interrogation of the arrested members. Besides four pistols and 12 live cartridges,the police confiscated 24 CDs,six mobile sets and parts of motorcycles.

The police have booked those arrested under sections of the Unlawful Activities Act and the Arms Act.

A senior police officer told The Indian Express that except one all of those arrested on Monday were active locally. Most were involved in an incident of loot on a train in Khandwa.

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Those arrested included Amzad,22,involved in the robbery at Manappuram Gold loan company in Bhopal last year.