Hours after nabbing three activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India from Sendhwa in Madhya Pradesh’s Barwani district, the State’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested two more SIMI men from Maharashtra’s Sholapur district and seized a haul of weapons from them late on Tuesday night.
While talking to mediapersons here on Wednesday, Inspector General of Police (ATS) Sanjeev Shami told, “Two SIMI operatives Sadiq and Umer Hafiz were arrested from Sholapur last night by a state ATS team with the help of Maharashtra ATS on the basis of information from three SIMI men arrested on Tuesday.”
He claimed that three bombs, over 100 detonators and about 70 gelatin sticks were seized from them. Shami said the arrested SIMI men had connections with Pakistan-based Tehrik-e-Taliban and had important people in the country on their target. He admitted that the SIMI activists had links with the group that was involved in Patna blasts.
On a tip-off, the ATS team tracked Sholapur-resident Khalid Ahmed's movement and arrested him, Abu Faisal who had masterminded Khandwa prison break two months ago in which five other SIMI men escaped and Ujjain’s Irfan Nagori in the wee hours on Tuesday. In another operation, an ATS team also raided two SIMI hideouts in Odisha's Sambalpur and Jharsuguda. Although the SIMI activists had escaped, the ATS team seized Rs 75,000 from them. This group of SIMI activists was allegedly involved in a bank dacoity in Jharsuguda.
This operation of the ATS is being considered a major achievement by Madhya Pradesh police.