Car used by getaway terrorists found

Mumbai, May 12 (UNI) Two days after the anti-terrorist squad (ATS) of city police made the biggest ever haul of 30 kgs of deadly explosive RDX from three terrorists in Aurangabad, Nashik police today found a car suspected to have been used by their two accomplices who had managed to escape the police on Wednesday.

Sleuths of ATS have left for Nashik to find out if the getaway terrorists left any tell-tale signs of themselves or another consignment of the explosive in the car which got away from police that day, the ATS sources said.

Besides the RDX, police had recovered ten Kalashnikov assault rifles, 2,000 rounds of ammunition and 40 magazines from a jeep they had intercepted after a 90-minute chase near Kannad, about ten kms off Manmad-Aurangabad highway. Three terrorists arrested then are in police custody till May 24.

The getaway car, without a number plate, was found abandoned at a place 150 kms from Malegaon on highway to Nashik, the sources said.

Meanwhile, police have detained owner of the jeep which had yielded the huge arsenal. Rafiq Shaikh told his ATS interrogators that the jeep used to transport arms and ammunition was rented out to one Raja by his car rental agency at Beed. Shaikh said he believed Raja to be a driver who had hired the car for the elusive terrorists. The ATS sleuths have fanned out to catch Raja who, they believe, could provide valuable information about the escapee accomplices of the three terrorists.

While preliminary investigation revealed that Mohammed Amir Shakeel Ahmed,30, is an activist of the banned Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), antecedents of his two accomplices - Mohammed Muzafar Tanvir, 26, and Mohammed Zubair Syyed Anwar, 24, - are being ascertained.

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