CNN-IBN
New Delhi, July 21: In what is being considered a breakthrough in the investigations into the July 11 serial blasts, the Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested three suspects.
The ATS, which along with Intelligence Bureau, made the arrests had recently dispatched two teams - comprising 28 officers - to search for suspects. One had fanned out in Maharashtra and the other went to Bihar and other places.
Khaleel Aziz and Kamal, father-son duo, were arrested from Madhubani in Bihar on Thursday evening. The third one, Mumtaz, was arrested from Vashi in Navi Mumbai on Friday morning.
They have been arrested under stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), they said.
Police have interrogated the men in the Patna Police headquarters over their role in the July 11 blasts in Mumbai that killed 207 people and wounded more than 800.
Initial reports indicate the arrested men had provided logistic support to the terrorists who carried out the blasts. The suspects were said to have made calls to Gaya from Mumbai on 7/11 evening.
However, ATS sources say custodial interrogation would reveal the complete picture. They are also investigating if the suspects have links with SIMI.
Investigators had detained hundreds of people across the country for questioning since the bombings, but the three men were the first to be formally arrested.
The three arrested are to be produced in Mazgaon court in Mumbai on Friday.
LeT top gun Abdul Karim Tunda arrested in Kenya
Kenyan police said on Thursday they have arrested Abdul Karim Tunda, one of India's most-wanted terror suspects, and a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Officials claimed Tunda is a suspect in the July 11 Mumbai train blasts and they would soon start the process to extradite him to India. Three persons were arrested in India on Friday in connection with the blasts which killed more than 200 people. Security agencies allege Tunda’s group uses ammonium nitrate in making bombs. Ammonium nitrate, test have proved, was used in the Mumbai blasts