GANDHINAGAR: One of the biggest, swiftest and best coordinated crackdowns led to the arrest of the 10 accused of the Ahmedabad blasts of July 26.
With the state government showing immense political will to deal firmly with terror, Gujarat Police, with the police of other states and central agencies, conducted swift raids in five states, including Gujarat, and detained 78 suspects.
In a first, two aircraft were used to rush 11 crack teams to terror hideouts in far-flung areas of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra. An aircraft was also used to fetch blasts mastermind Mufti Abdul Bashar Kasmi from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.
In another first, the state government sought the help of military intelligence to verify data retrieved from lakhs of mobile phones seized from Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat and several other places across the country.
Senior home department officials said the most modern data analyzer of the military helped the police solve the blasts mystery and secure vital clues, which ultimately led to the arrest of the nine Simi members allegedly responsible for the serial blasts in Ahmedabad.
Home minister Amit Shah told DNA in all, 111 personnel from various branches of the state police, including crime, anti-terrorist squad (ATS) and the intelligence wing conducted the probe. They formed 11 teams which were sent to various places to track suspects.
Giving details of the crackdown, the minister said 78 suspects, including several Simi members, had been nabbed by the police. Of these, 22 are from Gujarat. An ATS team was still in Kerala looking for missing Simi members, he said.
Shah was all praise for the Maharashtra ATS, which he said helped Gujarat Police zero in on some of the key suspects in Mumbai allegedly involved in the blasts that claimed 58 lives.
At the same time, military intelligence keeping a close watch on telecommunication between terror outfits operating from border states provided vital assistance.
