Terror trail: One more held in Kannur

Mani, belonging to Tamil Nadu originally, was
taken into custody from his wife’s house at Aayippuzha on the basis of
the information provided by Muhammad Faizal of Thazhe Chovva, a
recruiter for terror outfits including Pakistan-based Lashkare-Taiba.
Mani had converted into Islam sometime ago, like Muhammad Yasin alias
Varghese Joseph of Kochi, who had been killed by the security forces in
Kashmir early October.

The police said that Mani was a close
associate of Faizal, who had recruited into the terror network Muhammad
Fayaz and Faiz of Kannur, who were killed in Kashmir while trying to
sneak into Pakistan. The information about Mani was revealed by Faizal
during his interrogation by Deputy Inspector General TK Vinod Kumar who
was heading the anti-terror squad, an official from the Central
Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and officials of the State Police
Intelligence on Thursday and Friday.

Sreejith said that the
police were now convinced that the actions taken so far and the arrests
made during the past several days had helped in avoiding a number of
attacks that could have taken place in the State and elsewhere. He said
the questioning of those arrested had been progressing satisfactorily.

As
per reliable information, 43 persons, including Faizal and NDF activist
Abdul Jaleel of Kottoor, Edakkad, the first person to be arrested in
the present crackdown, were in the custody of the anti-terror squad.
Sources in the police said Faizal and Jaleel were the prize catches in
the entire operation and that they had given several vital clues about
the terror network in Kerala.

However, the police had not so far
been able to arrest Nazeer, described as the most important link in the
terror network in Malabar.

The police, who expressed
confidence that he also would fall into their net soon, said a clear
picture about the terror operations in the State would be available
with his arrest. The Coimbatore Police had asked the Kerala Police to
inform them as soon as he fell into the net as they wanted him there in
connection with extremist activities.

According to the
information collected from the arrested persons which was gathered from
the extensive searches all over Malabar area and in Kochi and its
suburbs, the police were now thinking that the number of accused in the
case relating to the burning of a Tamil Nadu State bus at Kalamassery,
of Kochi, on September 9, 2006 would go up. The number of accused so
far in the case was nine and this could go up with a re-investigation
into the case. The Tamil Police had even then pointed out that the
Kerala Police could have avoided some names.

In the meantime,
the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Thalassery on Friday
dismissed the bail petition filed by Adbul Jaleel after when he was
produced in the court with the period for which he was given in police
custody ended.

The bail plea was turned down after the suspected extremist’s lawyer dropped his case.

Jaleel
whose remand would come to an end on Saturday, would have to be
produced before the court. The court would then decide on his remand.
The police would request the court to leave them in their custody as
they wanted to question him further.

Jaleel was taken into
custody on October 15 after secret information that he had been
receiving calls on his mobile from Kashmir. His arrest was recorded on
October 19 after it was confirmed that the NDF activist had indeed been
receiving calls from Malayalee militants in Kashmir.