AP cops bare ISI’s designs

HYDERABAD, July 4: The state police has claimed to have busted a major conspiracy to create communal disturbances with the arrest of three I...

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HYDERABAD, July 4: The state police has claimed to have busted a major conspiracy to create communal disturbances with the arrest of three Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) agents of Pakistan and one of their accomplices from their hideouts here on Thursday. The police seized 12 kg of RDX, foreign made pistols, ammunition, wireless sets, remote control devices, other equipment and incriminating documents from them.

Disclosing the details at a media conference, the city police commissioner R P Singh said that the Delhi police arrested Mohammed Ishtayaq, an ISI agent, from his hideout on July 1 with the help of the city police. Based on the information provided by him, the task force sleuths raided an electrical shop at Tolichowk yesterday and took the shop-owner Mohammed Ismail of the city into custody. Four kilogram of RDX, a Chinese-made pistol, Japanese wireless set, remote control device with which explosives can be triggered at five places simultaneously and incriminating documents were seized from theshop.

Subsequently, the police raided the premises of Deccan Feeds near Imamguda village on the city outskirts and arrested two more ISI agents Abbu Kafa of Samkatnow in Kasoor district and Abbu Farukh of Faislabad district in Pakistan. They were working as watchmen there with assumed names Mansoor and Shakeel respectively. Here police chanced upon eight kg RDX, a wireless set, pistol and Indian passport of Ishtayaq.

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According to the commissioner, the 27-year-old Ishtayaq had been working for an organisation called Laskari-E-Taibe (Army of faithful) at Lahore. After getting trained in using sophisticated weapons, he crossed the border and stayed in Punjab for a year. Later, he was made "resident agent" of ISI in Hyderabad. He settled down at Tolichowk with an assumed name Mohd Saleem Junaid two years ago and married a local girl and was assigned the job of luring local youth in subversive activities.

He received money through Delhi-based hawala operators and had contacts with organisations likeJamat-E-Islam, SIMI and Darjgah-Jehad-O-Shehadat and he even met the chief of the latter organisation a few months ago, the commissioner revealed. However, the commissioner clarified that the ISI agent did not have contacts with any other political party.

The other two agents Kafa and Farukh arrived here four months ago to assist Ishtayaq. The duo, who received extensive training in using weapons, brought with them the explosive material and weapons. The ISI agents and Ismail had planned to plant bombs during a forthcoming festival, which could have resulted in large-scale communal violence. The city police chief said that three were being interrogated along with more ISI agents and local youths connected with their activities.