NEW DELHI/PATNA, Aug 29: Yasin Bhatkal, Indian Mujahideen co-founder and one of India’s most wanted terrorists, was arrested from the Indo-Nepal border in north Bihar, in the second prized catch for security agencies in a fortnight.
On the run for over five years in several countries including Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan, 30-year-old Yasin was nabbed in a joint operation by intelligence agencies and Bihar police. He was arrested along with another IM leader Asadulla Akhtar.
“Yasin Bhatkal was traced along the Bihar-Nepal border last night by our intelligence agencies. He is under the custody of Bihar police and his interrogation is going on,” Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters outside Parliament House today.
National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the arrest.
Yasin was taken to Motihari in Bihar for being produced in a court for transit remand before being flown to Delhi. He will be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Yasin, who hails from Bhatkar village in Karnataka, is wanted in a string of terror attacks in Ahmedabad, Surat, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi and Hyderabad.
It is the second major breakthrough for Indian agencies after the arrest of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda on August 16.
Yasin, who co-founded IM in 2008 along with brother Riaz Bhatkal and Abdul Subhan Qureshi, is also wanted in the German Bakery bomb blast in Pune on February 13, 2010, that left 17 dead.
The IM, patronised by Pakistan-based LeT, was designated a terrorist group by the government under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in June, 2010. The banned outfit was declared by the US as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation in 2011.
Yasin, also known as Mohd Zarar Ahmed Siddhibappa, along with three aides Tahaseen Akhtar Wasim Aktar Shaikh (23), Asadulla Akhtar Javed Akhtar (26) and Waqas alias Ahmed (26), was allegedly behind three coordinated bomb explosions at Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar and Dadar West in Mumbai on July 13, 2011, that left 27 dead and 130 injured.
In February this year, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh each to anyone giving information on Yasin and the three aides.
Except Tahaseen, who allegedly planted a bomb in the Dadar blast, the rest three were also involved in the four co-ordinated low-intensity explosions, which struck the busy arterial road in the heart of Pune city on August 1, 2012. Eight accused had been arrested in this connection.
In December 2011, the Delhi police had also announced a reward of Rs 15 lakh for any information leading to the arrest of Yasin in several terror cases, including three in Delhi.
Tahaseen hails from Samastipur in Bihar while Asadullah is from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh.
Government sources said Yasin was planning to go to Bangladesh from Nepal to meet his contacts there.
In Patna, Bihar police ADG Ravinder Kumar said a joint team of Bihar police and NIA arrested Yasin and his associate from near Nahar Chowk in Raxaul on the Indo-Nepal border.
This followed inputs that they were plotting a terror strike, he said.
Former Home Secretary R K Singh said Yasin has been the most active terrorist in the IM. “He himself was a bomb planter, organiser and he was infact one of the most potent terrorists in that (IM) stable,” Singh said.
“We have been after him. Catching him, therefore, I think, is a great success,” he said.
The former Home Secretary said Bhatkal gave the agencies slip at least twice earlier.
“Once it was said he was arrested in Kolkata but they (security agencies) did not have his identity and he managed to get bail and on another occasion again, our agencies had worked out a plan but he managed to give a slip,” Singh said.
In Bangalore, Karnataka police said it will seek Yasin’s custody to question him on his role in terror attacks in Bangalore. (PTI)
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