Q branch busts jihadi module in Bengaluru

Officials from the Q branch arrested three persons from Bengaluru who were allegedly making preparations to indulge in terror activities. They were said to be in touch with the missing Muslim fundamentalists who are believed to be holed up in Bangladesh.

The arrested persons were identified as Mohamed Haneef Khan (29), Imran Khan (32), and Mohamed Zaid (24). Sources said Zaid is an engineer.

According to the State police, an intelligence input indicated that notorious fundamentalist elements, who had disappeared from Tamil Nadu in the third week of December, were making preparation to wage jihad at various parts of the country.

Some of them, including Khaja Moideen, the self- styled head of Tamil Nadu ISIS, were accused in various communal cases such as the sensational murder of Hindu Munnani leader KP Suresh Kumar in Chennai in 2014.

“An operation was launched by Tamil Nadu Police to track their activities in various states. The states concerned were informed and their cooperation was solicited. Three radical elements were arrested by the Q branch officials on Tuesday at Bengaluru with the assistance of Karnataka police and other agencies. The arrested persons, along with the weapons recovered (3 pistols and 80 bullets) were produced before the court in Chennai and were remanded to judicial custody,” the statement from the police said. Police sources also noted that such modules could be present in other states also.

Sources said that Khaja Moideen, A Mohammed Shameem alias Abdul Shameem and N Syed Ali Nawaz, who are believed to have escaped to Bangladesh, has developed link with a similar module in Bengaluru and also in other states. Tamil Nadu police have already alerted their counterparts in Karnataka and Maharashtra about the possibility of existence of such modules.