Utkal Reporter
Bhubaneswar|17 Feb 2016
Five persons alleged to be terrorists were arrested from Rourkela in Odisha Tuesday night. They belong to the banned outfit Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), claims Odisha police. Among the arrested there was a woman.
Police was engaged in a three hour of firing exchange before they neutralized the attackers. It was a joint operation involving Odisha Police, Telengana Police and Intelligence Bureau.
Director General of Odisha Police K B Singh said “All the arrested are from Madhya Pradesh and had been staying in the rented house at Qureshi Mohalla locality of the city. They were wanted by the National Investigation Agency,”
The alleged terrorists as the police said have been identified as Mohammad Khalid, Zakir Khan, Amzad Khan, Mehboob Khan and Najma. According to police Najma is the mother of Mehboob Khan. The four male operators are NIA wanted. They are carrying as many as 17 charges of murder, robbery and bomb blasts on them.
As police said, Zakir, Amzad and Mehboob along with four of their SIMI accomplice had escaped from Khandwa jail in Madhya Paradesh.
They have been in Rourkela for the last 4 months with fake identity. “They have procured a fake PAN card, a fake bank account and they were trying to get a fake passport also.” Said the DGP as he added that one Naveen Sahoo an LIC agent have been helping them get the documents.
Police have recovered three guns, 7/8 mobiles and ammunitions a car and some documents from the spot.
They were planning for a bank robbery in Chhattisgarh, said the DGP, he disclosed that money with them have exhausted. The DGP however denied any clue coming up from the arrested to suggest that they had plan of terroristic sabotage in Odisha. Police had taken all five on remand for more disclosures.
In December last year Al-Qaeda operator Abdur Rehman was arrested from Jagatpur, the Puri train arson last year got to have terroristic influence. In that wake the arrest of the alleged SIMI activists on Tuesday night prompts the state to find out where Odisha is placed in the national and international terroristic interest
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