LeT operative Nazeer's aide held in Kerala

Nazeer's aide, identified as Yusuf, had been picked up the police from his house in Malapurram district in north Kerala a few days ago and he would soon be produced before a court near here, the sources said.

Nazeer, the alleged mastermind of the 2005 Bangalore blast, is now in custody of Karnataka police after he was picked up near the India-Bangladesh border early this month.

Police sources said Yusuf has confessed to planting the bombs at two bus stands in Kozhikode in early 2006.

He is also the eighth witness in the 2005 Kalamessery bus burning case, in which People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Abdul Nazir Maudany's wife Sufiya is among the suspects. Sufiya was released from jail last week.

According to the police, Yusuf admitted to having close links with Nazeer and said he had been trained in terror tactics in Hyderabad.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has begun a re-investigation into the twin bomb blasts at Kozhikode. Last week, it had also decided to take up the bus burning case.
The NIA is expected to seek Yusuf's custody, the sources said.