Mumbai blasts: Key Lashkar-e-Toiba militant arrested

In a significant development in the July 11 Mumbai blasts probe, police have arrested a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant, who was entrusted with the task of establishing a terror network in Mumbai, from Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, official sources said on Friday.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Mumbai Police assisted by counter intelligence wing of J&K Police raided a hideout in Sanai Potha belt of Surankote in Poonch district on Thursday and arrested the LeT militant, identified as Abdul Hameed, they said.

Soon after the arrest he was whisked away to Joint Interrogation Centre (JJC) in Poonch and was interrogated jointly by the Mumbai and J&K Police, they said.

Hameed was arrested following the recovery of his identity card by the SIT from the blast site at Matunga in the city.

The card was issued by a private security agency in Mumbai for which he was working as a guard, they said. When his whereabouts were verified from the security agency, he was found missing from Mumbai since the day of the blasts and had not reported for duty since then, the sources said.

During preliminary investigation, security agencies found that Hameed was part of an LeT module and had been deployed in Mumbai during the past one and a half years to establish a network and accomplish the tasks of LeT, they said.

Hameed had been close to the LeT “divisional commander” in Poonch, Abu Usama, and is believed to have been directly receiving instructions from top LeT leaders across the border to trigger blasts in Mumbai.

After seeking remand from the local court in Poonch, he will be taken in a special aircraft to Mumbai. During interrogation, Hameed has revealed some vital information regarding the Mumbai blasts and some more arrests are likely to take place in Baramulla and Poonch districts of the state.