Terror man to turn approver

In a rare development, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has
reportedly accepted the plea of LeT operative Shammi Feroze, seventh
accused in the Kozhikode twin blasts case, to make him an approver. The
NIA arrested Feroze, hailing from Chettippady, Parappanangadi in
Muslim-majority Malappuram district, at the Kochi International Airport
at Nedumbassery immediately after his arrival from Abu Dhabi on Friday.

Feroze, on production the other day at the Special CBI Court (II),
hearing NIA-probed terror cases in Kerala, had said he wanted to record
his statement before the magistrate as he had crucial information to
reveal. The court asked the agency to produce Feroze before it for this
on Wednesday. Sources said that it was entirely possible that the
terrorist would turn approver.

Feroze claimed to the agency that he had no intentions to be a
terrorist but Thadiyantavide Nazeer, LeT’s South India commander and
prime accused in the blasts case, had led him into a trap. He said he
had no idea about the plan for the blasts when he reached Kozhikode on
March 3, 2006. It was only after reaching there he came to know about
the plan, he said.

According to sources, Feroze told the NIA that he had come into contact
with Nazeer through Abdul Rahim, another terrorist, hailing from his
own village. He said he was thinking the plan could be to stage some
minor protests when he was invited to Kozhikode. Rahim was killed in an
encounter with the security forces in Kupwara, Kashmir, along with
three other Malayalee militants in October, 2008, when they were trying
to cross over to Pakistan.

Feroze told his interrogators in Kozhikode that several hardcore
militants including Nazeer, his bomb-making teacher Abdul Sattar alias
Sainuddin and Abdul Rahim had direct roles in the blasts, which were
believed to be a “dry run” for the terror attacks in Bangalore and
other Indian cities in 2008. He said he had come across all these
people (except Rahim) through the Twareeqat classes held by Nazeer.

According to Feroze, he had met Nazeer and some other persons with him
at a mosque in Kozhikode on the day of the incident. Afterwards, the
team split into two and one team proceeded to the Moffusil Bus Stand
while the other left for the KSRTC station. He claimed that he was just
a spectator for the whole incident at the KSRTC bus station and that it
was Nazeer who planted the bomb there.

Sources said the NIA could get several valid details about the
Kozhikode blasts case and other terror acts in Kerala from Feroze and
his turning into an approver would immensely help the agency in this.
They hoped there would be no hurdles in his turning an approver. They
also said that the agency had already got valuable information from him
during his ten-hour interrogation at the camp office of the NIA at
Kozhikode, headed by PK Rajmohan, Superintendent.

The NIA hoped to arrest the remaining accused soon. Kannur natives
Muhammad Azhar (28) and KP Yusuf (29), second and eighth accused
respectively, are still in hiding in the Gulf. The NIA has already
issued lookout notices for them. It had informed the Special CBI Court
earlier that Interpol’s cooperation had already been sought in nabbing
Azhar and Yusuf.

The Kerala Police’s Crime Branch had sometime back got evidences that
showed Feroze’s role in the twin blasts. They had come across some
e-mails he had sent which revealed his role in the terror strike. To an
extent, Feroze has already admitted to the crime to the NIA. Though he
had come back to Kerala prepared to surrender before the investigators,
the NIA arrested him at the airport itself without giving him the
chance to surrender.

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