Residents of Rosa Mystica building cannot believe that the polite, smiling Tariq Jalal was a terrorist and may have been planning to plant RDX in Goa.
PANAJI: Residents of Rosa Mystica building in Sirvodem-Navelim are still to get over the shock that they harboured a terrorist in their midst. They cannot believe that the polite, smiling Tariq Jalal, seen occasionally since he moved in nine months ago into a first floor flat, may have been planning to plant RDX in Goa.
Tariq Jalal, the suspected Kashmiri militant arrested on Friday night with one kilogram of RDX, was planning a terrorist strike at Marmagoa Port or oil dumps near Dabolim airport where oil companies store fuel. Tariq, who was remanded to 14 days' police custody and was jointly questioned by officers from the central intelligence agency, who arrived in Goa on Sunday.
Even more shocked is Clara Gonsalves who had rented her flat to Tariq for Rs 3000 per month. Clara was introduced to her tenant by friend and former Congress councillor Zarina Shah as "Ishq Bhat". "Tariq said he was selling Kashmiri carpets and I recommended him to the landlady after checking him out. He looked sober and quiet and I cannot believe he turned out to be a terrorist," Zarina claims.
Tariq made sure he was not seen as a stranger in a place like Goa. He made three visits to Goa since he first came in June last year. "He was such a familiar face that people used to wave to him," Mishra said. "He confessed to receiving Rs 25000 to Rs 50,000 twice from Srinagar and once from Mumbai through hawala," Mishra added.
Goa's Deputy Inspector General of police Ujjwal Mishra told DNA, "Tariq said he had not formulated a plan where to strike. But the fact that he had RDX shows he planned to use it soon."
So far indications are that Tariq answered directly to his handlers in the Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen and got his orders through mobile and by e-mail.
So far the police have no evidence that he had any local help or if he had set up a network.
Tariq did his BSc in Srinagar. He also did courses in radiology and software. Police said his joblessness despite acquiring varied skills led to his getting picked up by the ultras.
That was the first time when he was arrested by the J & K police and put in judicial custody for a year. After his release he went back to the militants and was picked up by the police again. The next time he escaped to PoK and joined the Tehreek, an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, based in Muzafarabad.
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