HYDERABAD: A day ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit, police in Hyderabad picked up two suspected terrorists, Syed Haji and Shakeel, with improvised explosive devices.

The three ammonium nitrate explosives weighing a total of 14kg were packed in steel containers normally used for pickles.

Police suspect that one Shahid, now believed to be in Saudi Arabia, is the leader of the ring. “Shahid toured Vijayawada and various parts of Karnataka after he got admitted into a computer institute in Bidar,” Addl Commissioner (crime) Rajeev Trivedi said.  

He said Syed Haji and Shakeel were picked up on a tip-off by two men, Zaheed and Kaleem, who were arrested last week in connection with a suicide bombing at a police office in Begumpet some weeks ago.

The men were apparently scouting for volunteers to be human bombs. On failing to find any, they planned to set the explosives off by remote control.

The state government has deployed 12 battalions of the Central Industrial Security Force. Nearly 6000 policemen and an equal number of Home Guards have also been deployed.

While both Singh and President APJ Abdul Kalam are slated to be in and out of Andhra Pradesh at least twice over the next two weeks, the Dalai Lama is currently in the state for the Kalchakra ceremony. Congress president Sonia Gandhi will visit at the end of January.