Suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Nazir brought to Kerala

Suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant T Nazir, arrested recently for his alleged involvement in terror attacks in various parts of the country, was brought here from Bangalore for questioning in connection with some cases in the state.

"Nazir has been brought to Kerala from Bangalore," inspector general of police (North) Tomin J Thachankary told reporters at Karipur international airport near here, but declined to divulge further details.

The IGP sought the cooperation of the media in carrying forward the investigation into various terror-related cases.

Two officials from Karnataka also accompanied Nazir.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Special Investigating Team, probing the terror related-cases in Kerala, who did not wish to be quoted, said Nazir would be taken to Kozhikode, Kannur and Kochi in the next four days.

Nazir and Shafaz were arrested by Bangladesh Rifles and subsequently handed over to the Boder Security Force on December 2. They were brought to Bangalore where they were questioned.

Nazir also reportedly plotted the March 2006 bomb blasts in two bus shelters in Kozhikode in which two persons, including a police personnel, were injured.

The torching of a Tamil Nadu Transport bus near Kochi a few years ago was also thought to be planned by him to protest the continued detention of People Democratic Party (PDP) chairman Abdul Naser Madhani in a Coimbatore jail.

Nazir reportedly confessed to an aborted attempt to bomb the Taj hotel Kozhikode in retaliation for the 2002 communal clashes at Marad beach near here, in which five persons were killed.

A native of Neerchal locality in Kannur, he is wanted by the SIT, investigating recruitment of Muslim youths from Kerala to Kashmir-based LeT outfit to carry out subversive activities.

The recruitment came to light after four youths from Kerala were shot dead in an army encounter in Jammu and Kashmir last year while they were trying to sneak to Pakistan through LoC.

Nazir has also reportedly confessed that he had organised camps in parts of Kerala to lure youths to carry out subversive activities against the country.

Several bomb blasts in Kannur district in recent years were carried out on an 'experimental' basis as part of carrying out subversive activities in major cities of the country.