The five alleged terror suspects, recently arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Bengaluru city police, seem to have provided little insight into the alleged terror plot that was said to be afoot. Only the arrest of Junaid, whose last known location was Dubai, can help the police unravel it fully, officers concede. However, the city police seem to be far away from nabbing Junaid, whose present location is unknown.
“The five arrested were associates of Junaid, co-accused with him in a murder he committed and in a red-sanders smuggling case, and now in the alleged terror conspiracy. They are foot soldiers and speak the same language. But they seem to have been kept in the dark about the bigger plot they were involved in. Information was shared only on a need-to-know basis with them. For everything, from the consignment of weapons and to what was afoot, they only say they were waiting for Junaid’s instructions,” a senior police official involved in the probe said.
Once a sheep trader
Junaid is not a new entity for the city police. A sheep trader at Sultanpalya, he was first arrested in October 2017, when he along with his 20 associates, including the five arrested in the alleged terror plot, kidnapped and killed Noor Ahmed, 22. The victim had lent Junaid ₹5 lakh which he did not return and the former had humiliated the latter.
It was during his 18-month stay in the Bengaluru Central Prison that he came under the influence of T. Nasir, an accused in the 2008 Bengaluru serial bomb blast case, and was radicalised, the city police have alleged. His entire family was sent to the same prison in December 2020, when police seized 502 kg of red sanders from their home and he spent time with Nazir again. Junaid shifted to Dubai in 2021, using his passport issued before 2017 which had not reflected cases against him. Efforts were not made to impound his passport.
Other handlers too?
From 2021 and now, when his role in the terror module has come to light, the agencies seem to be in the dark about his whereabouts and activities.
A senior official said they have credible information that Junaid had organised three consignments of country-made pistols and bullets, grenades, and walkie-talkie sets to be delivered to his henchmen through a courier, whom they were now trying to identify and track. “Nazir, who was a key commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba when he was arrested in 2009 from the India-Bangladesh border, has been in the prison for 14 years now and we doubt he can put together such a module and organise arms and ammunition. He may have radicalised Junaid, but we suspect he may have been cultivated by others once he reached Dubai,” a senior police official overseeing the probe said.
“The kind of ammunition recovered, especially the factory-made grenades and walkie-talkie sets that seem rigged to convert them into detonators, indicate a good backing,” the official said.
The hunt for Junaid
The police said that now only the arrest of Junaid would help them unravel the plot fully. “We are still far away from tracking down, arresting and getting Junaid extradited,” said a senior official.
Even to alert Interpol, the police need to submit his present location, about which they are still in the dark. “There are chances he may have moved out of Dubai, especially now that the news of the module being busted is out,” a senior official said.
His five associates who have been arrested are being questioned about his whereabouts, even as a technical investigation is also on to ascertain his location from where he was in contact with his associates and family. “We will have to present a good case against him, with credible evidence to get him extradited,” the official said.
