Panaji, March 12 (PTI): Police today claimed to have prevented the tragedy of the October 2002 Bali blasts from being repeated in Goa by arresting the would-be bomber as soon as he arrived on a train.

Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen militant Tariq Jalal planned to set off blasts at major ports and tourist hubs like discos and pubs, as had happened on the Indonesian island where over 180 people were killed, the Goa police claimed.

Jalal was arrested yesterday at Margao station, 30 km from here, as he got off the Mangala Express from Delhi. He was allegedly carrying a kilogram of RDX, two hand grenades and two detonators.

The militant, a radiology graduate, had escaped from the custody of Jammu and Kashmir police in 2002, Goa police chief Neeraj Kumar said. “After his escape from Srinagar, he travelled to Nepal, Bangladesh, Karachi and landed up in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.”

Jalal spent two-and-a-half years receiving terrorist training in Pakistan, the police said. The arrested man has allegedly confessed that he had drifted into militancy after failing to find a job, and worked for the Tehreek which is controlled by the Lashkar.

His list of targets in Goa had included the port trust, oil dumps, the airport and railway stations.

Jalal helped create “sleeping cells” for the Lashkar in Mumbai, the police claimed. He had visited Goa several times in the past eight months and stayed in a rented flat.

The police zeroed in on him after he made a few calls to Srinagar.