Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Jan 11: Bengaluru police have arrested a man from Bhatkal for suspected terror links.
The person, said to be identified as Riyaz (32), a resident of Makhdoom Colony, Bhatkal was arrested from Mangalore International Airport at around 11.30 pm on Saturday January 10.
Riyaz was about to board the Jet Airways flight to Dubai when he was apprehended by the Bengaluru police.
Sources said that Riyaz has been arrested in connection to the recent blast at Chuch Street in Bengaluru, but police sources did not confirm this information.
It is said that the Bengaluru police with the help of Mangaluru CCB police arrested Riyaz based on the information provided by the three persons from Bhatkal who were arrested on January 8.
He has been taken to Bengaluru for further investigation, sources said.
It is suspected that Riyaz has links with the Indian Mujahideen.
The Bengaluru police had on January 8 arrested Syed Ismail Afaq (34), Abdus Subur (23) and Saddam Hussain (35) and claimed to have seized a large cache of explosives. The parents of the accused and the locals, however have been claiming that they are innocent.
As per police sources, it is suspected that Riyaz had a hand in terror attacks in different parts of the country. It has also come to light during investigations that the three accused arrested earlier were involved in terror attacks in Hyderabad and Chennai, police sources said, and that Ismail Afaq used to often visit Pakistan.
However, Bengaluru police commissioner M N Reddi said that there is no information yet on their roles in the recent Bengaluru Church Street blast.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Bhatkal, Riyaz's father Khwaja said that his son was innocent. "Riyaz is employed in Dubai and had come to Bhatkal just 15 days ago. He was supposed to return to Dubai three days ago, but as we had no money for the ticket, his journey got postponed. We came to know about his arrest only through the media," he said.