LeT terror threat: Tamil Nadu cops detain 2 in Coimbatore

Two youth suspected to be in touch with Islamic terror modules were taken into the custody and are being interrogated by the Special Intelligence Unit (SIU) of the state police on Saturday.

According to police sources in Coimbatore, one of the detained duo, Siddiq, hailing from Thrissur in Kerala and working in Chennai, was in regular touch over phone with the Gulf-based Abdul Khader, alleged to be a kingpin of an Islamic terror module linked to the dreaded Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). The other one, Zaheer, a local of Ukkadam area in Tamil Nadu, was frequently conversing with Siddiq over the phone.

While Siddiq, who landed in Coimbatore en-route to Kerala, was detained at the bus stand in the morning by the SIU sleuths, Zaheer was secured from his residence at Ponvizha Nagar in Ukkadam, later in the day. The SIU is a wing of the state police entrusted with monitoring and containing Islamic militancy.

Both Siddiq and Zaheer, in their early thirties, have been taken to the Karunya Nagar police station on the outskirts of Coimbatore city, where they are being questioned. Besides SIU sleuths from Chennai, Deputy Inspector General (Coimbatore Range) G Karthikeyan too joined the investigation.

The intelligence sleuths, on scrutinising the phone calls of Abdul Khader found that he was in constant touch with Siddiq, who in turn was in frequent touch with Zaheer, sources said.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu continues to be on high alert since midnight of Thursday, following intelligence alert that six Pakistan-based LeT terrorists have sneaked into the state through neighbouring Sri Lanka.

Security has been tightened at airports and railway stations, besides other places. The entire coast line, which is mostly porous, has been put under surveillance. Coimbatore city, which witnessed a serial bomb blast carried out by the fundamentalist outfit, Al-Umma, in 1998, had been placed under a security blanket.