Bangalore: Mohammed Ghouse Tageting NorthK'taka under ISI Directions

Soumya Menon and Subash Chandra N S/Newindpress

Bangalore/Hubli, Jan 30: Mohammed Ghouse alias Riyazuddin Nasir is suspected to have been targeting North Karnataka under the directions of Pakistan Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

The investigation officials who have been interrogating Ghouse suspect this and are yet to confirm it.

The highly secured Kaiga Nuclear Power plant near Karwar, the INS Kadamba, a naval base in Karwar, Hidkal Dam in Gokak and Malaprabha Dam near Saudatti have been the main targets for Mohammed Ghouse alias Riyazuddin Nasir.

He revealed to the investigation officials at Davanagere that he had been regularly visiting these places and police also found markings of these places on the maps recovered from him, after his arrest.

There were indications that these terror groups were making efforts to strike in North Karnataka and had their sleeper cells spread across in that part of the state.

Police sources said that the terror outfits have been focusing on smaller towns and cities in the state and have been using students to achieve their mission by luring them in the name of religion.

Ghouse revealed that he is an active member of a terror group and was taking shelter in Karnataka, and came to the state after the Mecca Masjid blasts in Hyderabad.

He had left his house in Hyderabad one-and-a-half years ago and the family had no information about him after that, sources said.

Police sources told this website’s newspaper that he was travelling to Belgaum, Karwar, Udupi and Bellary.

“He was arrested at Honnali while he was returning from Mangalore to Hubli. He has been studying places in North Karnataka and looks like he was preparing a strategy. Though, we suspect that the ISI has been directing him to do so, we have to confirm that,” said a police official.

It is learnt that people like Asif and Asadullah fed Ghouse with information like maps and other details.

Police suspect that the vehicles that were seized from Ghouse and Asadullah might have been vehicle bombs.

In an interesting revelation, Ghouse has told the investigation officials at Davanagere that he was constantly trying to take revenge for the arrest of his father Maulana Mohammed Naseeruddin.

According to police sources, Ghouse was terribly disturbed and upset after his father's arrest and became an active member of his father's organisation.

Ghouse came to Hubli after the blasts in Hyderabad and had not informed his family about it. He was staying in Arvindnagar in Hubli.

Several terror groups targeting Hubli airport:

THE shadow of terror looms large on Hubli airport, as it has received more than a dozen threats from many major and minor terror outfits since November 2007.

The Hubli airport officials had received a list of threats from various extremist groups last year.

The airport officials said that the threats have been increasing since November 14, after the Lakshar-e-Toiba released a threat.

The last threat was on January 25, where the lesser known Fidayeen group had threatened to target the airport.

Two more threats were received on January 8 and January 16 which came from the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Jaish-e-Mohammed.