Early warnings of terror came in May

Nashik: Several people have been killed and over 100 seriously injured when three bombs exploded in a crowded market of Malegaon town, in Nashik district on Friday.

What is now being seen as a precursor to the blasts is a huge arms haul in Malegaon in May, 2006.

The first warning came on May 9, when the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra Police intercepted a Tata Sumo on the Aurangabad highway.

The vehicle was intercepted after a one-and-a-half-hour chase, and ATS officials managed to capture one of the three occupants as well.

Another occupant of the car was apprehended shortly afterwards with the help of locals. The third, the driver, surrendered a few hours later.

The consignment, neatly packed in computer CPUs and mango cartons, was, according to the ATS, being despatched to Gujarat and Hyderabad via the Aurangabad-Malegaon state highway.

The discovery of more consignments revealed the extent of the network.

On May 12, an Indica was found abandoned in Malegaon. The driver of the car, Abdul Azim, was arrested from the spot and another cache of RDX and arms was recovered from the car.

The next day, ATS sleuths unearthed more explosives from inside a culvert at Manmad.

Shortly after, yet another arms cache was found in an electrical shop in Malegaon. The owner of the shop, Abdul Ghani Osman, was arrested.

The total consignment comprised 43 kg of RDX, 16 AK-47s, 3,200 loose cartridges, 100 hand grenades and 100 magazines for the rifles.

However, despite the fact that it was obvious that the belt was becoming a hub for terrorists especially the terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba, no serious action has been taken to curb these activities.

Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, R R Patil has now requested the Centre to give additional technical assistance to keep track of these terror units.

He has also decided to constitute a Special Intelligence Unit within the Home Ministry wherein officials will not be transferred every two years in keeping with the regular norms.

The idea behind this is to prevent officials from taking away the evidence gathered during investigations with them when they are transferred.

(With inputs from Deborah Grey, Rohit Chandavarkar and Sumon K Chakrabarti)