Neeraj Chauhan & Sanjeev Singh TNN
New Delhi/Ambala: Recovery of an RDX-laden car in Ambala on Wednesday night with the help of sniffer e dogs James and Chilli might have saved the national capital from a deadly terrorist strike during Diwali, investigators said.
According to Delhi Police officials, a blue Indica car recovered in the Haryana town had five kilos of RDX, besides detonators and timers that would have claimed numerous lives in a crowded market place.
In the 2005 serial blasts in Delhi, three bombs went off killing 62 people and injuring over 200 just two days before Diwali. The three bombs had just a kilo each of RDX, packed with shrapnel and other explosives. RDX (Research Department Explosive) is produced in state-controlled facilities. The large RDX haul suggests that Pakistani state agencies had a role in providing supplies.
“We had inputs that an LeT module active in Jammu and Kashmir was planning to strike in Delhi. Investigations were done and found that the explosives were meant for Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and to be used in Delhi,” said Arun Kampani, deputy commissioner of police (special cell).
“The plot was by ISI and the whole operation was being monitored from Nepal. A call was traced from Nepal 10 days ago which suggested exchange of explosives,” sources said.
The cops are investigating if the recovery of explosives has any links to the September 7 blast at Delhi High Court, where too RDX was used. A team of National Investigation Agency, which is probing the HC blast, has rushed to Ambala.
Delhi Police has gone on high alert following the recovery, with all entry and exit points to the city being monitored for any suspect vehicles. Ambala plot: All states on alert‘Explosives Smuggled From Jammu’
The home ministry has also alerted other states to maintain a high state of alert during the festive season.
The car, number HR-03R-0054, a light blue Tata Indica car, was parked unattended. “We put some officers in plain clothes from 8pm till 11pm there to see if somebody comes to take the car but nobody turned up after which it was opened,” said an officer. Officials said the occupants of the car might have become suspicious after seeing police activity at Cantonment station and so they did not turn up.
It is learnt that policemen had already searched the area where the car was parked twice before the two dogs smelt the explosive. Chilli was the first to raise an alarm. Soon, James started dragging his handler and other cops towards the car. He also put his front paws on the bonnet.
Officials said the explosives were smuggled to Jammu and Kashmir through the border and a separate module was assigned to deliver it to Delhi. Police is looking for two suspects who drove the car to Ambala from Jammu. They have recovered two toll tax slips, of Shambhu Barrier and Ladowal in Punjab, from the car, and probably have CCTV footage of the two suspects from one of the toll booths.
Bomb disposal squads and forensic experts from Madhubani FSL rushed to the spot. Police found five kg of black explosives in three packets wrapped with brown adhesive tapes, five detonators in a plastic box wrapped with brown adhesive tapes, two timers hidden in the cavity of window rolling machine of the front door of the car, registration papers of the car and two toll receipts.
A box of sweets, bought from Jammu’s Bari Brahmna area, was also found in the car, besides two newspapers from J&K. Officials said they had checked the registration details of the car and they were found to be fake. Police said the fake number was registered against a Sector 7 Panchkulabased house. The car was brought to Delhi on Thursday in a truck, and some parts of the car were dismantled to look for clues.
Sources said painstaking following of an intelligence input, which initially appeared to be quite general in nature, led to unraveling of the deadly terrorist plot. The incident clearly shows the linkages of LeT with Khalistani terror groups through the common ‘master’ ISI, officials said. The possibility of such a nexus was specifically discussed by top cops of the country nearly a month ago during a conference here last month when they discussed reports suggesting constant efforts by Khalistani terror groups to revive militancy in Punjab at the behest of the ISI.
TERROR TRAIL
Based on a tip off that Pakistanbased Lashkar-e-Taiba has sent a huge consignment of explosive via Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi Police traces a light blue Indica car in Ambala Cant station parking
The car, having registration number HR-03R-0054, is traced in the evening on Wednesday after which police puts it under surveillance to see if somebody comes to take it
As nobody turned up till 11pm, Special Cell team along with Bomb Disposal Squad checked the car and found five kgs RDX in three boxes wrapped with brown adhesive tapes
The operation goes on for almost two hours. Police also found five detonators in a plastic box, two ABCD timers, registration card of Indica car, two toll tax receipts of Shambhu Barrier and Ladowal and some newspapers of Jammu and Kashmir
Investigations suggest that explosive belonged to Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and LeT was assisting BKI in bringing explosive to Delhi
BKI along with Lashkar, on the directions of Pakistan’s ISI, was plotting attacks in Delhi during Diwali and bombs were to be made in Delhi only
After NSG, FSL and police thoroughly check the car which was brought to Delhi on Thursday evening.
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