Mumbai, Oct. 26: Mumbai police today sounded a red alert and released sketches (in pictures) of three suspects, who could be suicide bombers or part of a larger terror cell planning a strike in the city, after a taxi driver raised the alarm.

The driver, whose identity has been withheld, alerted the police after he ferried three men and a woman on two consecutive days to three religious shrines in the city and two luxury hotels — all of which are listed as terror targets.

The anti-terrorist squad has launched a search over the past two days.

Raids were conducted at Mahim and Mira Road and some people were detained, police sources said.

Joint commissioner of police (law and order) K.L. Prasad said the driver travelled to some dargahs, a hospital and a prominent hotel in south Mumbai with this group.

The sources said the driver was waiting at a spot in Mahim on October 22 when the group hired his taxi for Rs 2,000 (for two days). The group included a man in his 40s and two men in their 20s, carrying two travel bags, and a burqa-clad woman.

In his complaint, the driver said that on October 22, he drove the group to Mahim dargah, Haji Ali dargah and the adjacent Mahalaxmi temple. The group spent two hours at each of these shrines and carried the travel bags with them while the cabbie waited. They returned to the same spot in Mahim and asked the driver to pick them up the next day from there.

On October 23, they travelled to JJ Hospital, the largest public hospital in central Mumbai, and then to Hilton Towers. They again carried the bags and spent nearly two hours at each location. The group then asked him to drive to Siddhivinayak temple, and this time they requested him to take care of the bags while they finished some work.

Increasingly suspicious of their behaviour, the driver refused to keep the bags and had an argument with the group. They tried to offer him more money before warning him of dire consequences if he informed the police.