Two militants arrested after 10-hr operation

Two militants arrested after  10-hr operation
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Highlights

Two militants arrested after 10-hr operation. In a major operation the police of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu jointly took two suspected terrorists belonging to terrorist Fundamentalist organization (Al-Umma) here on Saturday with the help of Octopus wing of AP Police.

  • One escapes minutes before police action in Puttur
  • Incident jolts police, as it happens during Brahmotsavams
  • Some explosives, a revolver seized during the raid

In a major operation the police of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu jointly took two suspected terrorists belonging to terrorist Fundamentalist organization (Al-Umma) here on Saturday with the help of Octopus wing of AP Police. The two arrested were identified as Panna Ismail and Bilal Malik. They also took the wife of Malik and their three children into custody and shifted them to Chennai for further investigation. The operation lasted more than 10 hours. A team of Striking Force from Chennai and four from Special Intelligence Bureau of Tamil Nadu arrived at Puttur at around 3.20 am on Saturday after getting crucial information from an arrested extremist Fakruddin.

The police surrounded a rented house, where the suspected terrorists were taking shelter, in Gate Street in Puttur town and recovered two live bombs and a revolver after breaking the doors.

After getting detailed information from local people the police went to another house in Medara Street and made an attempt to arrest two terrorists from a tiled roof house. But the extremists pulled an inspector, Kalyan Lakshman, inside the house and thrown him out a few minutes later by stabbing with sharp knife at several places on his body. . The police opened one round fire in retaliation to take them into custody, in which the terrorist Panna Ismali was severely injured. The police immediately shifted the injured police inspector to Chennai hospital by an ambulance, where the medical officers said his condition was stable but critical.

Meanwhile Chittoor SP Kranthi Rana Tata was informed by SIB of Tamil Nadu about the hiding of two extremists in a house in Puttur and requested local police support. Chittoor SP immediately sent the CISF and Rapid Action Force police personnel to the spot. Thirty policemen from Tamil Nadu Special Police wing of Tiruvallur also arrived at the spot within two hours and surrounded the entire area. The Octopus, specially trained in combat operations and rescue services, police personnel also reached the spot by 8.30 am from Tirumala. After the arrival of Chittoor SP, the heads of all wings of police discussed the action plan in detail.

After about three hours, the police came to know that a woman with her three children, including an infant, were inside the house along with two extremists – Banna Ismali and Bilal Malik. The police asked the extremists to surrender and assured them that they won’t be killed. One of the two extremists warned the police that they had bombs and explosives which would be blasted if the police made any attempt to arrest them. They also warned that they would blast the entire house using cooking gas.

The Additional DGP (CBCID) of Tamil Nadu, DIG of Tiruvallur Range, SP of Tiruvallur, Chittoor SP and the Octopus in-charge discussed to make the operation a success by taking the extremists alive and rescuing the woman and her three children. As part of this strategy the Octopus police drafted the topography of the house which they explained to the SP and other higher officials of the police departments of both the states. They carried out the operation at around 1.25 pm. After a few minutes, the woman along with her infant child Hansa came out followed by other. The police got detailed information from the woman about the extremists and the weapon power and swung into action after severe warnings. At last the two extremists came out telling the police that they were surrendering. Immediately the police shifted Bilal Malik, Hasina Begum (wife of Ismail) and her children Hansa, Yasif and Fathima in an ambulance amid tight security to Chennai and the extremist Panna Ismail to government hospital in Puttur for treatment.

The Tamil Nadu CBCID police and SIB police had arrested one Fakruddin at check post near Tiruttani on Friday night and got the information about these two extremists that they were taking shelter in a hideout in Puttur. Fakruddin was involved in two murders that took place in July. He was involved in the murder of BJP leader Ramesh, who is a professional auditor, at Salem in the third week of July and in the murder of Vellaiappan, a state leader of Hindu Munnani (a Hindu Organisation in TN) at Velloor in the first week of July. The TN police also suspected his role in the pipe bombs installed under the culvert in Coimbatore targeting the BJP senior leader Advani some years ago.

Chittoor SP Kanthi Rana Tata said that most of the terrorist activities were in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, but these extremists were taking shelter in Puttur by considering this town as a shelter zone. The police have taken a lot of care to save the lives of the woman and her three children and hence fire was not opened till the completion of ‘operation’.

An extremist Jabbar, who was absconding, landed in a rented house 18 months ago in Gate Street in Puttur town by telling the house owner that he was doing business of old clothes. At a monthly rent of Rs 1500, he took the first floor portion and after a few months his friends were visiting frequently and involved in secret discussions by locking the door from inside, a neighbour, Hasinaa, said. As the number of inmates in this portion increased the lower portion family had raised objection and Jabbar took another house in Medara Street some 45 days ago. A few hours before the arrival of CBCID and SIB police from Tiruvallur, Jabbar fled the house. A hunt is on for Jabbar.

A Tamil Nadu police officer said that Fakruddin had revealed about the hiding of about 30 terrorists in Puttur town.

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