Grade A and actionable: De-coding the terror threat to Tamil Nadu

New Delhi, Aug 24: The presence of Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists in Coimbatore led to the declaring of a high alert in Tamil Nadu.

The Intelligence Bureau (IB) said that at least 6 operatives of the outfit had entered Tamil Nadu and then taken shelter in Coimbatore. An IB source informed OneIndia that the alert was sounded after the intelligence was found to be Grade A and actionable.

The IB further said that one of the operatives was a Pakistani, while the rest were Sri Lankan Tamil Muslims. The Pakistani operative operative goes by the name Anwar Ilyas.

The IB has asked the police to maintain a high state of alert and also said that these persons are moving around disguised as Hindus. They would be found sporting a tilak, the IB has also warned.

Further the IB said that the terrorists would make attempts to mingle with the locals. The police have been advised to keep a close watch as these persons could use public transport to reach their destination.

The police have however advised the people not to panic and added that this is a precautionary alert. All measures have been taken to neutralise the threat, the police also said.

Coimbatore has been facing a problem of both radicalisation and terror over the past several years. Modules of the Students Islamic Movement of India and Lashkar-e-Tayiba are considered to be strong in this area.

In another development, a major ISI backed terror funding network was busted by the Madhya Pradesh police. The police have arrested five persons in connection with this case.

The arrested persons include, Sunil Singh, Shubham Tiwari, Bhagvendra Singh and Balram Singh. The name of the fifth operative has been kept confidential in the light of the ongoing investigations.

The Uttar Pradesh police had tipped off their counterparts in MP about the module. The police said that investigations have revealed that there were at least 13 Pakistani handlers as part of this network.

They were raising funds through the cross-border lottery racket. They were also in touch with operatives in different parts of the country like West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. They kept in touch over phone, chat applications and social media. The police have seized phones and laptops from their possession. Further investigations are on.