Five people radicalised to carry out terror attacks have been arrested with firearms and ammunition in Bengaluru, the police said on Wednesday.
Seven pistols, 45 live cartridges, a bunch of walkie-talkies, some daggers and 12 mobile phones were seized by the Central Crime Branch from them.
Provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act were invoked against them.
The suspects were identified as Syed Sohel Khan, Mohammed Umar, Jahid Tabrez, Syed Mudasir Pasha and Mohammed Faisal.
The five suspects were arrested near a place of worship in Kanakanagar area of Sultanpalya locality in the city on Tuesday while planning a major conspiracy, according to the police sources.
The Laskhar-e-Tayiba operative and kingpin, T Nasir, who radicalised these five people in the central jail in Bengaluru, is the accused number one of the case while his accomplice Juned, who is at large is the second accused.
"The Central Crime Branch has succeeded in busting the anti-social forces and foiled their nefarious designs. They were arrested after raiding a place under Hebbal police station limits," Bengaluru police commissioner B Dayananda told reporters on Wednesday.
The suspects were radicalised by Nasir, who is an accused in the 2008 Bengaluru serial bomb blasts case and currently lodged in Parappana Agrahara Central Prison, along with Juned, who is absconding and holed up outside the country.
The suspects are accused of murder, robbery, smuggling of red sanders and other crimes.
They were in touch with Nasir, who has links with Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Dayananda said.
He added that Nasir's gang members were planning to carry out "destructive activities".
Juned was accused of killing his business rival Noor Ahmed in 2017, the police officer said. In that case, 21 people were arrested including the five terror suspects, Dayananda said.
Police sources said these five terror suspects spent 18 months in jail in connection with the murder case and came out on bail.
"We have booked them under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act...", Dayananda said, adding that further probe will reveal how many of them are involved and with whom they are all linked.
"Their accomplice who is at large and is in a foreign country provided them all kinds of assistance with weapons and other equipment. He had given them the directions to carry out their activities in the city," he added.
Besides invoking provisions of the UAPA and Arms Act, the terror suspects have been charged with waging a war against the government of India, collecting arms to wage the war and hatching conspiracy under section 121 of the IPC.
These suspects were produced in the NIA special court, which remanded them to seven days' police custody.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah congratulated the police for their action.
He tweeted, “Congratulations to the CCB for averting a major destruction by arresting five suspected terrorists who were conspiring to carry out destructive activities. We are always ready to track down those involved in any kind of anti-national activities including terrorist activities and root out such forces from the state. Our government is committed to provide a safe life to everyone in the state.”
State home minister G Parameshwara said in the Karnataka assembly that these terror suspects “indulged in anti-national activities to carry out destruction... many clandestine operations and collected weapons and other equipment to execute their operations damaging the unity, security and sovereignty and destruction of public properties”.
The police had a clear information that they were conspiring in a house in Hebbal and prepared an action plan to carry out anti-national activities, and accumulated weapons illegally, the minister told the House.
“The CCB took action at the right moment and averted a possible nefarious activity,” he said.
Later speaking to reporters outside the Assembly, Parameshwara said investigations are in progress to find out their links with terrorists.
Meanwhile, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party blamed the Congress government for "emboldening" terrorists in the state.
BJP MLA and former minister R Ashoka said the "arrival" of Congress government in the state has strengthened "anti-national forces to carry out terror activities".
Former CM Basavaraj Bommai appreciated the CCB for arresting them. He demanded that this case be handed over to the National Investigation Agency.
