Author: Agencies
Publication: The Economic Times
Dated: August 1, 2006
URL: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1833198.cms
The arrest of prime Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)
suspects Rahil Sheikh in April and Zabiuddin Ansari in May during police raids
this year could have averted the July 11 blasts, police sources said.
Sheikh and Ansari are the prime suspects in
the blasts case and after police made an unsuccessful attempt to nab them
earlier this year, the duo are suspected to have moved to Pakistan from where
they are co-ordinating LeT activities in Mumbai, informed sources said on
Monday.
Sheikh was holed up in Mumbai when a joint
operation of Mumbai and Delhi Police was launched to arrest him in April-May
this year, sources said.
Being a prime suspect in the October '05 Delhi
serial blasts, Sheikh was already wanted by the Delhi Police. With his LeT
activities in Maharashtra coming under the scanner of the Anti Terrorism Squad
(ATS), a plan had been worked out to get a hold of him.
A secret operation was planed to nab Sheikh
who was then hiding at a place in central Mumbai. However, when the Delhi
Police-ATS team surrounded the house where he was holed up, Rahil apparently
realised the plan and jumped from the first floor of his hideout to make an
escape, senior police officials said.
Similarly, when the ATS launched an operation
to trace an arms cache moving near Aurangabad in the Marathwada region in
May this year, Ansari alias Zaby was also accompanying the LeT operatives,
sources said.
However, as the police vehicles gave the LeT
vehicles a long chase, Ansari allegedly escaped and in the days ahead moved
to Pakistan via Bangladesh, sources said.
Top intelligence officials said the arrest
of the two key LeT operatives would not only have helped police expose the
LeT network in Mumbai and parts of the state, but could have probably averted
the July 11 serial train blasts.
Meanwhile, Faiyaz Kagazi - a close aid of
Ansari - whom the ATS was searching for after the serial blasts, is also suspected
to have escaped to Pakistan, sources added.
It is suspected that after their escape to
Pakistan, Sheikh and Ansari planned the July 11 blasts to avenge the crackdown
by police on LeT members in Maharashtra.
