Click to play videoBangalore: Terror is going hi-tech with gen next and the case of Yahya Kamakutty is not an isolated one. Here is a profile of the new face of terror, from Delhi to Goa to Bangalore.
When Imran Bilal — Hyderabad blasts accused — revealed that he had been given weapons, one AK set, four magazines, two grenades and cash for travel expenses, the police realised just how frightening the circumstances were.
Bilal said that he had brought all this from Pakistan to India. He also said this during a narco analysis test:
"He told me Infosys and Wipro in 2001 when I was here. I said Vidhan Soudha, but Vidhan Soudha was not a target of the Lashkar-e-Toiba. I don't know whose target it was. But LeT had said Vidhan Soudha and every IT company should be a target. They have a diary of IT companies."
Forty-two people died in the Hyderabad blasts in which Lumbini Park and Gopal Chat Bhandar were targetted.
Over the last two years, fears that terror had moved down south have been confirmed, but it was the latest arrests of Riyazuddin Nasir, Asadulla Abubakr and Mohammad Asif that has exposed how deep it has penetrated.
Interrogations have revealed that the real threat is not from Kashmiri militants but local Kannadigas — educated, merit holding students with government quota seats in top colleges, who are being indoctrinated into joining terror groups.
They are motivated with CDs and books that trace the history of jihad. Some of these were recovered by the police from Hubli, which could be for innocent purposes but could also used as provocative material.
Former Karnataka DGP, B S Sial says, "They train and send recruiters to hire local people, motivate them and give them money in the name of religion. Post the IISc attack, we found out that there are many ways to lure locals like monetary gains and higher education."
The most irrefutable proof of terror's base in Karnataka is an improvised firing range, where suspected terrorists practiced with air guns along with evidence that attacks were being planned on Goa's beaches and discotheques.
Goa Home Minister, Ravi Naik says, "The terrorists arrested in Karnataka had plans to create problems in Goa. They had surveyed coastal areas and many crowded areas. We were saved because they did not get RDX and money on time."
As for weapons, it's child's play to smuggle them across Pakistan, even on the Samjhauta Express.
This is what Imran Bilal had said during his interrogation:
Police: "You went with valid passport. How did you come?"
Bilal: "I went from Attari to Amritsar, then Jammu. I went to Amritsar by train and by bus to Jammu. No one checked me. It was possible to bring the weapons."
But terror experts believe that though Karnataka is home to many terror suspects, it may not be a target.
Sial says, "Population is vast. There is lots of inflow and outflow of people and so terrorists find it safe to hide themselves in places like Goa and Karnataka. Generally, a person would not cut the branch on which he is sitting and so they would not indulge in violence in Karnataka per se."
The south is crowded, it's well connected and it's easy to gel with the people and suddenly it has become safe for suspected terrorists who are establishing their roots.
(With inputs from Pramod Acharya in Goa and Sabeena Chopra in New Delhi)
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