3 with links to TN jihadi module nabbed in Bengaluru

A Tamil Nadu-based jihadi module involved in communal killings was busted with the arrest of three men in a daylong operation in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

The incident came to light when the accused — Mohammed Haneef Khan (29), Imran Khan (32) and Mohammed Zaid (24) — were produced by the Chennai police before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.

According to Chennai police, the three were residing near Bengaluru. Three pistols and ammunition were seized from them.

The Tamil Nadu police were assisted by their Bengaluru counterparts in arresting the trio who were at large near Suddaguntepalya and Tilak Nagar.

The intelligence wing of the Tamil Nadu police got a tip-off that some fundamentalist elements were making preparations to “wage jihad” at various places across the country.

A few members of the gang had disappeared from Tamil Nadu in the third week of December.

The module, which is involved in a sensational murder case in Tamil Nadu, developed links with similar gangs in Bengaluru and expanded to other states across the country.

5 held in Tamil Nadu

The Tamil Nadu police started investigating Bengaluru links after the arrest of five people in their state. The TN police launched an operation and sought the help of Bengaluru City Police and the Internal Security Division (ISD) of Karnataka Police. The cops managed to nab the trio after a week.

A senior officer from the CCB confirmed the joint team operation. “We deployed officers to assist the TN police in nabbing the trio who were in Suddaguntepalya. They were handed over to TN police,” he said.

Another senior officer said that the main accused, who handed over weapons to the arrested men, was at large.

"After preliminary inquiry, we found that the three received weapons from him and were asked to wait for further instructions. But they didn’t have any specific target in Bengaluru as of now," he said.

The arrested men were couriers who used to supply weapons to other gang members. "We cannot rule out the possibility of them being used to commit communal murders. They confessed that they were instructed to keep the weapons safely," the officer added.

The Tamil Nadu police said the three also procured SIM cards using duplicate documents and supplied them to various jihadi outfits.