Yasin Bhatkal’s aide identifies Indian Mujahideen’s ‘BOMB LAB’ at Mangalore,Karnataka !!!! Mangalore, Sept 12: Information obtained from Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal and his fellow operative Asadullah Akhtar is believed to have led security agencies to an apartment in Mangalore suspected to have been used to make bombs for the twin blasts in Hyderabad in February and for future attacks elsewhere in the country. The third floor, rented apartment at Zephyr Heights in the Attavar region of Mangalore was traced last Saturday after the National Investigation Agency brought Asadullah, 26, who was arrested on August 28 with Yasin on the Bihar-Nepal border, on a chartered flight to the coastal Karnataka city. The discovery of 50 digital watches — several with wires connected to transform them into bomb timers, a few cell phones with wiring to again enable their use as timers in bombs, three electrical detonators, about 125 gm of ammonium nitrate gel, fuel oil and a pocket book on bomb circuitry have led investigators to believe that the Mangalore apartment was some kind of an IM bomb lab. Asadullah claimed he had lived in the apartment for six months until March this year, using it as a base to travel to Hyderabad to plant the bombs for the strike on February 21. He claimed he had returned to Mangalore after the bombing and then moved out, sources said. He is also believed to have claimed that he shared the flat with two other IM operatives — Tahseen Akhtar alias Monu alias Hasan, 23, from Bihar and Waqas alias Ahmed, 28, from Pakistan. The two are suspected to be experts in connecting the circuits of IEDs and were also involved in the Hyderabad blasts. In fact, it is suspected that they were in the flat until as recently as the arrest of Yasin and Asadullah. Asadullah is also believed to have told investigators that he, Monu and Waqas experimented with circuitry for IEDs for the Hyderabad blasts at the Mangalore flat and prepared timer circuits which were then used to assemble the final bombs at a rented premises in Hyderabad. Sources said Asadullah had claimed that he was only involved in planting the bombs and that Monu and Waqas were the experts in connecting the circuitry involving the timers, batteries, detonators and the main explosives. The attacks that Monu and Waqas are suspected to have been involved – Mumbai July 13, 2011 and Hyderabad Feb 21, 2013 – were devastating due to the fail-proof circuitry of the bombs, police sources said. Only the August, 12, 2012 blasts in Pune that were apparently carried out in a hurry to avenge the death in jail of an associate, Qateel Siddiqui, failed. “We suspect that the flat was used to experiment with bomb circuitry in order to ensure that blasts do not fail as it has happened in some cases. We believe that Waqas and Monu left the flat in a hurry some time recently otherwise they would not have left all this material behind,” police sources said. Asadullah is also said to have claimed that he was receiving money through Western Union money transfer to pay the rent for the Zephyr Heights flat and to meet other expenses in Mangalore. Monu and Waqas may have been preparing the ground for another attack around the time Yasin and Asadullah were arrested, forcing them to hurriedly flee, the police sources said, adding that the rent for the flat had been paid. Security sources in Hyderabad confirmed that the Mangalore flat was used as a base to prepare for the February 21 attacks in Dilsukhnagar. NIA investigators were also taken to the rented house in Hyderabad used for the attack by Asadullah, Tahseen and Waqas. investigators are also said to have found a bag used to transport the explosives and material for the IEDs from Mangalore to Hyderabad. Investigators have collected hair samples at both the Mangalore flat and the Hyderabad house to run DNA matches. The NIA sought permission from a Delhi court Tuesday to collect DNA samples for Asadullah and Yasin. Investigators, sources said, are trying to figure out why Yasin was not involved in the operations for the blasts allegedly carried out by Asadullah, Monu and Waqas in Hyderabad. Sources said this may be a sign of an attempt by top IM leaders such as Riyaz Bhatkal to reduce dependency on Yasin and to create a second line of operations probably under the leadership of Monu. Investigators also suspect IM co-founder Riyaz Bhatkal has a hand in the Mangalore operations such as arranging the apartment and explosives as he is known to have influence in the Mangalore region. In 2008, following the arrest of IM operative Akbar Ismail Chaudhry in connection with the August 2007 Hyderabad blasts, police had raided houses in Mangalore and neighbouring Chikamagalur where Riyaz and Yasin were suspected to be hiding. The raids failed but the police discovered an IED experimentation and preparation unit at a farm house in the Koppa region of Chikamagalur, suspected to have been an IM base like the Mangalore flat this time. tulunadunews/38823/yasin-bhatkals-aide-flown-mangalore-identifies-ims-bomb-lab-zephyr-heights-attavar/
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 12:59:14 +0000
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