Indian Mujahideen may hit Motihari, red alert sounded

MOTIHARI: Red alert has been sounded in Motihari, headquarters of East Champaran district, following a report that Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives might target the crowded localities of Motihari town. Arshad Ansari alias Tabish, an accused in the serial blasts at Patna Gandhi Maidan on October 27 arrested by NIA, has revealed that he had to provide maps of the location of crowded places of Motihari town to Imtiaz Ansari, another accused arrested in connection with the blasts .

The East Champaran police, through public address system, have alerted the Motihari residents not to touch any abandoned bag or object at any public place. The police have been asked to keep vigil on movement of suspected persons.

SP Vinay Kumar said the police had launched an awareness drive to minimize destruction in the event of such blasts in this border district. Handbills and pamphlets have been distributed to make people aware of the IEDs. "We will also use CD to make people aware of the destruction caused by blasts. The state police provided landmine detector and bomb detector devices to East Champaran police on Thursday and police teams are using these devices at crowded places," he added.

He further said that newspapers and posters have also been used to identify the Patna blasts accused who are yet to be arrested and might take shelter in the district particularly at Raxaul on the Indo-Nepal border where Yasin Bhatkal, IM co-founder, was arrested on August 28, 2013.

The SP said Raxaul and other police stations in the border areas, SSB and other security agencies have been asked to maintain vigil on the porous border and check vehicles and people crossing the border. The police were also co-ordinating with intelligence agencies to gather more information. This is for the first time that a terror suspect (Arshad Ansari) had been arrested in the district.

Arshad, a native of Alaula village under Kalyanpur police station graduated from Ranchi, as his elder brother is employed in Ranchi University. He had close ties with Imtiaz Ansari, an IM operative. Patna police traced Arshad's cell number from Imtiaz's call list. The police reached Alaula and arrested him. He confessed his involvement in the Patna blasts.

Arshad said that he along with Imtiaz and others were in Patna between October 8 and 10 to carry out recce of various sites in the state capital that could be targeted. They had also decided to hide at his village after the blasts, he revealed. Arshad Ansari was taken on seven days' remand by Patna police on Wednesday and is being quizzed by NIA in Patna. The East Champaran SP said the East Champaran police team will also quiz Arshad in Patna. A police team will go there, he said.