National Stock Exchange, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre: Danger lurks

Mumbai, March 12: The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the National Stock Exchange were among targets chosen by two suspected Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami terrorists gunned down in an encounter in Thane last night, police sources said today.

The joint operation by anti-terrorist units in Pune and Mumbai was carried out after intelligence alerts that two terrorists of Bangladeshi origin had crossed the border and entered Mumbai with a plan to strike at sensitive installations in the country’s financial capital.

A passport seized from the dead militants, gunned down on Mira Road in Thane, identified one of them as Mohammed Ali.

Intelligence agencies had alerted the anti-terrorist squad (ATS) about Ali crossing over to India about three days ago.

“It is a major success for us. We are investigating their links,” special inspector general of police and ATS chief Hemant Karkare said today, the 15th anniversary of the 1993 serial blasts that killed over 250 people in Mumbai.

The Bombay Stock Exchange was among the 12 places where RDX-triggered bombs exploded on March 12, 1993. The 14-year trial wound up last July.

Karkare said fake Indian currency worth Rs 10 lakh, 2kg explosives, suspected to be RDX, and two firearms, including a Smith and Wesson pistol, were seized from the militants.

“We can say they were on a planned mission. Sensitive nuclear installations and the National Stock Exchange were some of their targets,” he said.

The seized fake currency, in thousand-rupee notes, will be sent to the Reserve Bank of India for analysis. The explosives have been sent for forensic tests.

ATS officials said the two militants were acting as couriers and the probe would try to trace the final recipients of the contraband seized.

Karkare said the ATS was probing if there was a connection between two recent fake currency hauls involving Bangladeshi nationals.

The anti-terrorist squad had arrested six Bangladeshi nationals a fortnight ago and seized fake currency worth Rs 1.78 lakh while railway police made a similar seizure a few days ago.

Asked if the dead militants were in any way linked to Fahim Ansari, a Mumbai resident arrested by the Uttar Pradesh special task force on terror charges last month, Karkare said a connection was yet to be established. “We are still investigating it,” he added.

The ATS had taken Ansari into custody and his interrogation had revealed that he surveyed places like the state police headquarters at Colaba, the Mumbai police commissionerate at Crawford Market, the Bombay Stock Exchange and the Gateway of India for possible strikes.