Mumbai:
Seventeen years after he allegedly helped execute serial blasts in Mumbai, Bashir Khan was apparently planning another terror attack in the city. The two men who were his foot-soldiers were caught, officials say, just in the nick of time. (
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On Sunday, two young men, brothers-in-law, were arrested by the Mumbai police. They were being monitored since the terror attacks in Pune last month, on the basis of phone records.
Guided on the phone by Bashir, who they referred to as "chacha" (uncle), they were reportedly planning blasts at a suburban mall, along with attacks at installations of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).
In 1993, Bashir Khan was a key member of Dawood Ibrahim's gang. He allegedly attended meetings in Mumbai and Dubai where the conspiracy to target Mumbai was hatched. Nearly 250 people were killed and more than 700 injured in serial blasts in March 2003.
Bashir is said to have played a key role in the landing and planting of the explosives used in those attacks.
Trained by Pakistan's ISI to handle sophisticated weapons, he now operates from Karachi, say intelligence sources.
One of the two men arrested over the weekend in Mumbai is Bashir's nephew. Two of five lakhs promised to him and his relative were routed into India, through hawala channels.