The day after the arrest of six alleged radicals, who are suspected to have links with ISIS, Karnataka is put on high alert. The State has also identified 300 sensitive places on the backdrop of the arrests made across the state by the National Security Agency (NIA) in coordination with the state police. Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said special commando force “ Garuda “ has been deployed across the state to prevent any untoward incident. He told the media in Tumakuru on Saturday that high alert has been sounded across the state and 300 places have been identified as sensitive.
He said “High Alert has been sounded in Karnataka and about 300 places were identified as sensitive on the backdrop of National Investigation Agency (NIA) nabbing of six suspected ISIS sympanthisers yesterday in the State”.
“Following inputs from the Central and State intelligence agencies, High Alert has been sounded in the State and security has been intensified throughout the State,” he added. He said specially trained ‘Garuda’ commandos force will be deployed throughout the sensitive places The Force personals were trained on the lines of NSG.
“Garuda’ is a force of 110 security personnel in the State who have been trained like NSG commandos. The government is examining the possibility of establishing one Garuda team in the each districts, he added.
He said sensitive areas were identified which include important buildings, shopping complexes, airports, bus stations, railway stations and tourist spots across the State and security has been stepped up there while high alert has been declared throughout the State. He said that in places near Bengaluru including Tumakuru, Kolar, and Ramanagaram the police have been asked to be alert as the terrorists may use these places as their hideouts for planning their activities and for manufacturing explosives.
Meanwhile a special court on Saturday remanded six terror suspects to four-day’s NIA custody till January 27. Of the six suspects, five were produced amid tight security before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) designated court after they were medically examined.
“The court has granted four-day remand to interrogate them on charges filed against them,” an NIA counsel told reporters later. Five suspects Asif, Ahad, Mohammed Sohil, Mohammed Afzal and Syed Mujaid Pasha were present in the court, while sixth suspect Nazmal Huda was being brought to the city from Mangaluru on transit remand.
The arrests followed raids by NIA teams on rented houses and hideouts of the suspects in the city. According to sources huge quantities of arms and ammunition were recovered and seized from the rented house of two suspects in the city’s south-east suburb.