High alert in MP over possible movement of Afghani terrorists

Bhopal: Eight districts in Madhya Pradesh, on the borders of Gujarat and Rajasthan, have been put on high alert, after intelligence inputs about possible presence of terrorists. The state police have confirmed that extensive and thorough searches are being conducted for the four Afghan-origin terrorists, who were last known to be in Gujarat and Rajasthan, reported NDTV.

A sketch of one of the suspected terrorists have also been circulated in all police stations, outposts and check-points, said Jhabua district police superintendent Vineet Jain. He is reportedly from north-eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province.

It is not known how the terrorists made their way into the country.

Searches are being conducted in Jhabua, Alirajpur, Dhar and Barwani districts which border Gujarat and Ratlam, Mandsaur, Neemuch and Agar-Malwa districts located on the border with Rajasthan.

According to sources in the police, the alert was sounded on Monday evening, after which checking began at 10 security check points in Ratlam district. Action has been started at the inter-state check points of Jhabua and Alirajpur and Agar-Malwa.

Security has been beefed up to check trains coming from Rajasthan and Gujarat are also being combed, the police said. All eyes are on the Ratlam railway junction as it lies centrally on the New Delhi-Mumbai route.

Jhabua district police superintendent Vineet Jain told NDTV that through the day, the Gujarat police was carrying out extensive checking at all inter-state border check points.

"But since the evening, we too have started exhaustive checks at 11 inter-state border points in Jhabua district, particularly on the Pitol check point," he said.

Last week, 31-year-old Jahirul Shaikh, an accused in the October 2014 Burdwan blast case, was arrested by the National Investigation Agency from Indore's Azad Nagar locality.