2 LeT terrorists escape from custody

Lucknow, Feb 27 (UNI) Two dreaded Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorists, who were behind the 2001 attack on CRPF camp in Delhi, fled from the civil court premises here today.

State home secretary Arun sinha said here this evening, the terrorists Maksood Ahmed and Mohammad Syed Alaib Majhain were being escorted by assistant sub-inspector Ram Awadh Ram and two constables Ram Naresh and Amit Kumar to the court.

They fired in the air from a pistol to disperse the crowd and escaped. Natives of Pakistan, the duo were POTA detenues and lodged in the central jail here.

Senior police officials later rushed to the spot and a combing operation was launched to nab them.

According to eye-witnesses, the terrorists flashed the pistol and fired in the air. They first ran to the nearby Balrampur hospital and then towards the city railway station.

A probe was also on to ascertain the source of the pistol, SSP Rajiv Ranjan said.

The two LeT modules were the mastermind behind the terrorist attack on the CRPF camp at Jharandakala in Delhi in late 2001.

Both were arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh Police on March 26, 2002, under Ghazipur police station here. An AK-47 assault rifle and a huge quantity of RDX explosives were recovered from them.

Meanwhile, an FIR was being lodged against the three policemen who were also likely to be suspended.

One of the terrorists, Maksood, had been sentenced to death by a Delhi lower court in the CRPF camp attack.

The police had already released the photographs of the absconding terrorists.

UNI