Mehsana, July 18:
Five persons were arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Thursday in connection with its probe into a terror module of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) outfit, officials said.
The arrested persons were identified as Bilal Abidbhai Shera, Mohammad Ayub Kadiwala, Mohammad Palanpuri alias Khali Ayub Sunsara, Shafia Rais Mukhti and Mohammad Hasan Kardia. They were apprehended from Khadiyal village in Siddhpur taluka of Patan district.
The five accused were held after their names surfaced during the investigation of eight alleged JeM operatives held earlier this month, the officials added.
The five were produced before Judicial Magistrate R M Bhatia at Kadi town in Mehsana district, which remanded them in ATS custody till July 24.
Public Prosecutor PR Dantani said the ATS sought custodial interrogation after telling the court that one of the accused had attempted to make a time bomb and that bomb-making material as well as JeM literature in Urdu were yet to be recovered.
“Their names came up during the investigation. It was revealed that one of the accused had tried to make a time bomb. He also possessed that literature. The literature and materials related to Jaish-e-Mohammed in Urdu are yet to be recovered. Therefore, police sought remand for further investigation,” Dantani told reporters.
He said ATS also wanted to ascertain where the bomb-making material was procured from, where it was concealed, and how the accused obtained jihadi books linked to JeM and where those books were hidden.
According to Dantani, the accused had attempted to test a crude time bomb, but the experiment was unsuccessful.