Mumbai, May 11: Anti-terrorist squad teams have launched a massive search in Aurangabad and Beed districts to trace a suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba operative who was to receive the huge cache of arms and explosive seized by police yesterday.

Yesterday, the search teams swooped on three suspected militants ? Mohammed Amir Shakeel Ahmed Shaikh, 30, Sayyed Zuber Sayyed Anwar, 26, and Mohammed Muzaffar Mohammed Tanvir, 24. They were travelling in a Tata Sumo, on the Manmad-Aurangabad highway, over 350 km from Mumbai.

The cache of arms seized from the trio consisted of 10 AK-47 assault rifles, 2,000 live rounds of ammunition, 40 AK-56 magazines and 30 kg of black powder, believed to be RDX.

This is the largest RDX haul since the March 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai, the terror squad claimed.

The arrests ? the squad had specific information on them ? happened in dramatic fashion when the Tata Sumo was asked to stop for a check. But the car began speeding towards Aurangabad city instead. The terror squad intercepted it near Kannad, near the Ellora caves.

The trio tried to flee but were caught.

“We are looking for their accomplices, including a key accused who was to actually receive the consignment from this trio. We believe he was travelling in another car at a safe distance behind the Tata Sumo. Our teams have been camping in Aurangabad to trace him,” an officer of the terror squad said.

The police have traced the owner of the Tata Sumo, Rafique Shaikh, a resident of Beed. He has been brought to Mumbai for questioning.

The police are also probing if the trio was part of a suicide squad, considering the quantity of RDX they were carrying.

“It is still not clear if their target was in Maharashtra or in some other state. We are investigating all possible angles,” a police officer said.