NIA arrests two more people suspected in series of court blasts

Furthering its probe into a series of blasts that took place in various court premises in southern states of India, the National Investigation (NIA) arrested two more individuals on Tuesday afternoon. The number of arrested individuals now stands at five, with the probe agency claiming that the accused men belong to a new outfit which pledges allegiance to Al-Qaeda.

NIA spokesperson Alok Mittal on Tuesday said that Mohammed Ayub Ali, who had been detained last night, was put under arrest along with another youth named Shamsudeen. Both are 25-years-old. 

Ali, a native of Madurai, works as a public liaison officer for a hearing aid company. Shamsudeen is also a resident of Madurai and his name cropped up during interrogation of others arrested by the NIA.

 According to the probe agency, the suspects (all in their 20s), belong to a relatively new outfit named Base Movement which had taken responsibility for the low intensity blasts in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. The outfit claimed responsibility for at least three low-intensity blasts that took place in the court premises of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala by dispatching a letter to the authorities bearing a map of India and a photo of slain Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. A similar letter was sent ahead of French President Francois Hollande's visit to India in January this year.

The other three accused were identified as  Abbas Ali (27), Suleiman (23) and Samsum Karim Raja. Abbas is a resident of  Ismailpuram area in Madurai. According to NIA  he studied up to 8th standard and is a painter by profession. NIA said that Abbas also ran a library in the name Darul-ilim’ in Madurai. Suleiman, originally from Madurai, works in a software firm and was based in Chennai. NIA said that he was the "main leader of the terrorist gang". Samsum, the NIA said, is a B.Com graduate and runs a chicken broiler shop at Kannimara Koil street in Madurai. 

​Officials believe that the Base Movement is a result of the regrouping of an Islamist outfit by the name al Ummah. Nagapattinam native Abu Bakr Siddique, 51, one of the master-minds in the Bangalore blast at the BJP office in 2013, is believed to be the leader of the outfit. Siddique was absconding between 1999 and 2011 and police is investigating if he, like some of the al Ummah members, left to join the jihad in Afghanistan.