B Gokul Vannan/ENS
 
Chennai, May 17: Four special police teams were rushed to Adhirampateenam in Thanjavur and other parts of the State on Friday to hunt for terror suspect Taufeeq alias Chotu and his associate Abu Tahir of Chennai.

The duo managed to elude the police during Thursday’s raid at a house in Mannady during which three suspected terrorists were arrested.

Taufeeq, said to be only four feet tall, is a native of Adhirampateenam and a key member of the Eraivan Oruvaney (God is one) outfit. The group has links in Saudi Arabia, said sources. Taufeeq is wanted in at least two cases in his native town for murder. According to a police source, between 1999 and 2001, Taufeeq went to Saudi Arabia and trained under Abu Hamza and Abu Ummar.

Following the Gujarat riots in 2002, Taufeeq, with funding from Hamza and Ummar founded the Islamic Defence Force. He was given CDs about the riots and other propaganda material to distribute among Muslim communities in Tamil Nadu.

Taufeeq was arrested in 2002 for stocking huge piles of explosives in Kodungaiyur. Police were then pursuing the two Saudi Arabians, Hamza and Ummar. By then, Taufeeq was released on bail. His case was transferred to Special Intelligence Wing, CB-CID.

Later that year, the Mumbai police arrested Taufeeq for his alleged involvement in a Mumbai bus bomb blast case and subsequently booked him under POTA. Three years later, a POTA court acquitted him. For two years, Taufeeq went underground and formed Eraivan Oruvaney, said police sources.

In 2007, resurfaced and extended his activities to more propaganda work. He had his base in Mannady.

A senior police official said, “If we arrest Taufeeq, we will we be able to determine if other fundamentalist organisations are operating in the State under him and who their targets are.”