3 LeT militants caught from Old Delhi, major strike foiled

New Delhi, Dec 19 (UNI) City police today arrested three Lashkar-e-Tayyeba militants from near the historic Red Fort and claimed to have averted a ploy to carry out explosions in busy markets of the area in the run up to Christmas and New Year.

The three -- Salman Khurshid Kori (23), Abdur Rehman alias Mohd Hasan (24) and Mohd Akbar Hussain alias Habib (20), all from Manipur, -- were apprehended by a team of Delhi Police's Special Cell, when they disembarked from a private bus coming from Kashmir early this morning.

Two kg RDX, two detonators and one hand grenade was recovered from them.

It was the first time that persons hailing from the country's North East had been caught operating for the LeT.

Police believed that the three were to team up with two Bangladeshis, Abdur Razzaq Jiwon and Mohd Alamgir Hussain, who were arrested by the Delhi Police on October 16, to cause explosions during the festive season.

Kori, a school dropout from Imphal, had gone to Aligarh in 2001 were he came in contact with Salim Salar alias Doctor, who persuaded him to join 'terrorism' to help spread their tentacles in the North East. He was sent to Kashmir, then to POK for arms training.

Upon his return he 'recruited' three people -- Abdur Rehman alias Mohd Hasan, Mohd Akbar Hussain alias Habib and Zaid alias Saifullah -- and send them to Kashmir for 'training'. Zaid was killed in an encounter in the valley.

While Abdur Rehman alias Mohd Hasan had met Kori in Manipur in November 2004, Mohd Akbar Hussain alias Habib was Kori's cousin.

The three were later produced before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjeev Jain, who remanded them to 14-day police custody, till January 2.

The judge told the police to get the militants medically examined every 48 hours, whereever they were, and also asked that the 'live' grenade should be defused before it was sealed and deposited with the court as case property (evidence).

The police wanted their custody to take them to Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur to carry out further investigation and affect recoveries.

UNI IP VD ND1752