Arrested terror suspects picked up after months-long operations: TN DGP Shankar Jiwal

CHENNAI: The three terror suspects arrested by the Tamil Nadu ATS in the past few days were apprehended after months-long operations and after coordinating with police in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, TN Director General of Police, Shankar Jiwal said on Friday.

Abubacker Siddique, Mohammed Ali and Sadiq alias Tailor Raja were arrested after nearly three decades on the run and the police were constantly pursuing them, he told a press conference here. The operations were titled 'Aram' and 'Agazhi'.

The three persons are wanted in cases including the 1998 Coimbatore serial blasts that killed 58 and injured over 250 persons and the 2013 Malleswaram bomb blast in Bengaluru.

The two operations were launched in coordination with the police forces of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka over the last six months to nab the suspects, he said.

While Siddique and Ali were picked up from Kadappa district in Andhra, Sadiq was arrested in Karnataka's Vijayapura.

"The Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) has done very professional and successful operations...investigation is going on," the top cop said.

The arrested persons were involved in professions such as running grocery store, tailoring shop and real estate.

The police used "certain parameters" to ascertain their identities, since they were arrested after so many years. "Their identities were confirmed within 24 hours of their detention," Jiwal added.

While Siddique and Ali don't seem to be associated with any banned outfits, Sadiq is suspected to be a part of the banned Al-Umma group, he said.

A probe is on to ascertain various details, including their possible visits abroad.

Operation Aram was launched several months back by the TN Intelligence with its ATS in coordination with Coimbatore police to nab Siddique, an official release said.

"He was constantly being pursued by several Central agencies and state police forces from Kerala, Karnataka etc. He is wanted in several bomb blasts and communal murder cases."

"He was absconding for 30 years and yet continued in criminal activities across South India. There were negligible clues available regarding his whereabouts as there were no photographs of him available apart from his youth pictures," it said.

He was believed to be operating under many pseudonyms and was more of a 'loner' who kept changing his location and was capable of doing a variety of jobs, it added.

"He is an expert in making IEDs (improvised explosive devices) of high quality," it said.

Using meticulously generated HUMINT (human intelligence) and TECHINT (technical intelligence) the police team nabbed him from Rayachoti near Kadappa in Andhra Pradesh's Annamayya district.

Later, Ali was nabbed and both have been remanded to custody by a local court here.

Later, the TN police shared inputs given by Siddique to their Andhra counterparts, based on which the latter conducted searches at the arrested person's residence and "unearthed explosives and other incriminating material."

Operation 'Agazhi' was launched to nab Saddiq Ali alias Tailor Raja, also known as 'Valarntha' Raja alias Shajagan Shaik.

"He is wanted in four sensitive cases including the 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blast. He has been on the run since 1996 for 29 years. There were no photographs of him beyond his teenage years and he was completely incommunicado with his friends and family members," the release said.

The special team, with "meticulous cultivation" of sources in a few states managed to zero in on him using HUMINT and TECHNIT.

He was picked up from Vijayapura in Karnataka on July 9 and brought to Coimbatore later.