Two suspected terrorists sent to police custody till June 21

Mumbai, June 8 (UNI) Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court today granted police custody till June 21 to the two suspected terrorists, arrested last night from Beed here by the anti-terrorist squad (ATS) in connection with the seizure of arms and ammunition from Aurangabad last month.

The two -- Khatib Imran Akhil Ahmed (23) and Shaikh Vihkar Ahmed Shaikh (23) -- were arrested on the basis of information revealed by 11 suspected terrorists arrested by the ATS last month from Aurangabad.

Both of them were produced before the MCOCA Judge M R Bhatkar this afternoon and sought their police custody for further investigation into their role in this organised crime syndicate.

Vikhar was picked up from a hotel owned by his relative while Khatib, a resident of Parali, was arrested from Majalgaon by the ATS Two swords were recovered from them.

Meanwhile, the ATS also produced four other suspected terrorists arrested earlier in the same case before the MCOCA judge as their police custody expired today.

The court, as per the instructions from the investigating agency, granted judicial custody to Mohd Amir Shakir Ahmed, Mohd Juber Sayyed Anwar, Mohd Muzaffar Mohd Tanveer and Abdul Azeem Abdul Jameel Shaikh.

With the arrest of two young graduates last night from Beed, the total number of suspected terrorists arrested in this case has reached 13. Seven of them are still in police custody.

The ATS, in their joint operation with the Aurangabad police on May 9, had arrested a terrorist which led to the arrest of other 12 people including an activist of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and recoveryed a huge cache of arms and ammunitions from them.

The ATS had so far recovered 16 AK-47 rifles, 3,200 live catridges, 62 magazines, 43 kg of cyclonite (RDX) and 50 hand grenades, including two vehicles, from the arrested people.

The investigation team informed the court that during interrogation, they had revealed a conspiracy of creating terror by using arms and ammunition and explosives seized from the arrested accused. They had even admitted to having provoked some youth for going to Pakistan for training.

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