Mumbai: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested another person from Mumbra in connection with the alleged Islamic State (IS) sleeper cell that the agency claimed to have busted from the state. Officials said that the latest arrest was made late on Saturday and they have also seized a laptop, hard disks, mobile phones and diaries from the residence of the accused.
With the latest arrest of the 24-year-old person, the total number of arrests has gone to 10, all from Mumbra and Aurangabad. The officials said that the cell allegedly hatched plan to poison food and water supplies at events to cause mass casualties.
“The youth was arrested yesterday for his involvement in the said crime. We have seized a laptop, tablet, hard disks, pen drives, router, mobile phones and diaries during his house search,” said an ATS officer.
The officials said that his name cropped up during the interrogation of the earlier arrested accused. The investigators are probing into the individual roles of each of the accused.
Following the first set of arrests in the case, the ATS found that the accused had been trying mix and match and conducting experiments in mini-laboratories at their Mumbra and Aurangabad hideouts. The alleged mastermind is one of the accused apprehended from Aurangabad and the accused had attended meetings to plot the attack there.
Among those arrested, two are engineers, one is a pharmacist and the 17-year-old suspect is a college student studying science, ATS officials said. The investigators have seized suspicious liquid in a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and unknown powder, which they were planning to mix to make the poison that was alleged to be mixed with food and water.
The cyber team of ATS picked up sensitive material based on technical intelligence and the suspects were on the surveillance since months. Several meetings took place between the accused persons at both Mumbra and Aurangabad to plot the attack.
The officials added that they were in contact with an IS operative who is suspected to be based outside India. The identity of the said handler is yet to be established.
