30.8.13

Yasin Bhatkal held


Yasin Bhatkal, one of India’s most wanted terrorists responsible for several bombings that have claimed over 200 lives, has been arrested.
The 30-year-old, whose real name is Ahmed Siddibappa, was picked up from Pokhara in Nepal where he was living in the guise of a Unani doctor. The successful operation of the Intelligence Bureau, which was facilitated by Nepal, also yielded a bonus in the form of Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi, an absconding front-ranking member of the Azamgarh module of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) who had played a crucial role in the 2011 serial blasts in Mumbai.
With the police of different states on his trail, Yasin had made Nepal his base. He would come to India only for plotting and perpetrating terror attacks. The vast network of associates he had created in the nearby Darbhanga district helped him stay away from India and yet operate efficiently. In the event, it was the success of IB in tracking one of his assets which led to the high-ranking fugitive.
The arrest of Yasin, who carried a reward of Rs.10 lakh, is a major breakthrough for the Indian security establishment’s efforts to neutralize IM which overcame setbacks inflicted by security agencies to resume its terror campaign against India.

Coming on the heels of the arrest of Abdul Karim Tunda, who orchestrated a series of blasts across Delhi and elsewhere in the 90s, the arrest was also reflective of the Indian security establishment’s growing cooperation with Nepal whose approach facilitated the hijack of Indian Airlines aircraft, IC- 814, in 1999. 

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