Nazim Ahmed was planning attacks in Mumbai: ATS

Mumbai: Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) sources have revealed that Nazim Ahmed, who was arrested recently for suspected links to banned terror outfit Islamic State, had drawn up a list of areas in the city and the state and was planning minor attacks.

Sources said that these attacks were planned in gas cylinder shops or fireworks godowns, which would be masked as “freak accidents and not terror attacks”. Officials also revealed that there were also plans to target and kill some policemen in certain districts to create a sense of panic.

Ahmed, who was arrested in April, hails from Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh and was staying in Mumbra since sometime. He was arrested in a joint operation led by the Uttar Pradesh ATS and assisted by Maharashtra ATS. The UP ATS, which booked Ahmed and took his custody, has asked all the ATS in all states to probe the case as Ahmed was allegedly heading a country-wide terror module. Sources in the ATS revealed that Ahmed had drawn up a list of areas predominantly populated by a particular community.

“They were planning attacks in areas targeting a particular community. These attacks are suspected to be in places like gas cylinder warehouses or godowns storing fireworks,” said a source. The source revealed that these attacks were to be held in places where they would be masked as accidents involving the goods stored and not a terror attack. “They wanted it to cause damage but not be an obvious attack, at least in the prima facie investigation,” said the source.

The source revealed that some of the places on Ahmed’s list included Nanded, Aurangabad and some areas in Mumbai too. “We are constantly in touch with the UP ATS and getting updates regarding the investigation and also conducting our own probe,” said the source.