Security agencies fear a new Indian Mujahideen bomb-maker could be on the prowl

NEW DELHI: Ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit to India, security agencies are concerned that a 'Waqas-2' may be on the prowl or waiting in the wings to enter India from Pakistan. Waqas, alias Zia-ur-Rehman, is a Pakistani bomb-maker who executed several blasts in India on behalf of Indian Mujahideen until his arrest in Bangladesh in March last year.
The information was worked out on the basis of interrogation and recoveries made from IM's explosives suppliers arrested recently in Bangalore.Agencies have learnt that the accused were instructed to keep explosives and circuits ready and wait for instructions to hand them over to a bomb-maker who would contact them in the coming days. This person was being sent by IM co-founder Riyaz Bhatkal in Pakistan.
It is, however, not clear if this person had already entered India by the time the accused were arrested or is yet to enter. In either case, the threat from him is being looked at seriously by central agencies. It is suspected that this person may be a fresh face from Pakistan or one of the various IM operatives from India, such as Dr Shahnawaz, Mirza Shadab Baig, Bada Sajid and others, hiding in Pakistan.
In the past fortnight, Bangalore police arrested four IM operatives from Bhatkal who are suspected to have supplied explosives to bombers such as Waqas, Tehseen Akhtar and Yasin Bhatkal. Identified as Syed Ismail Afaque, Saddam Hussein, Abdus Subur and Riyaz Ahmed Sayeedi, the accused were in touch with Riyaz through another operative.
The police on January 8 seized 40 packets of ammonium nitrate gel, each weighing 125 gm, along with detonators, electronic timer devices, digital circuits, wires and PVC pipes from the accused. Afaque's interrogation revealed that he was instructed to stock material and keep it ready to be delivered.
"Afaque is not a bomb-maker. He merely sources explosives. He was supposed to deliver it to someone Riyaz was sending but was arrested before the transaction could take place. Afaque does not know who this person is. It could be a trained bomb-maker and planter like Waqas that Riyaz had sent in earlier," said a central security establishment officer.
The explosives recovered from the accused matches with the samples from the February 2013 Hyderabad blasts and also with the explosives recovered from a house in Mangalore where Waqas and Tehseen Akhtar lived before Yasin Bhatkal was arrested in Nepal in August 2014.
The explosives delivered by the accused over the years are already being suspected to have helped several blasts executed by Yasin and his associates since 2010. However, no connection with Patna or Bodh Gaya blasts has been found as yet. Both these blasts were executed by SIMI operative Hyder Ali.