Rameshwaram cafe blast accused could possibly be in touch with foreign handlers, News18 reported on Monday (8th April) citing top intelligence sources. According to the report, foreign funding is the new trend among terrorists and they are possibly using the cryptocurrency transfer route to fund their activities. The sources also claimed that crowded places are more likely to be their targets to create a panic in public.
The reports also claim that temples are no longer the preferred place for terrorist attacks.
As per the News18 report, the Rameshwaram blast perpetrators are old absconders who came into notoriety following the ISIS graffiti case in 2020. Shariq is from Tirthalli in the Shivamogga district of Karnataka, the report added.
The sources told News18, “The way they have been absconding for so long and yet carried out a blast again clearly suggests they are getting financial and logistics support from outside India.”
According to the report, the money possibly came through the crypto route to carry out attacks and sustain during the “cooling-off” period.
The intelligence sources stated that the terrorists chose the popular Rameshwaram cafe to get more publicity.
They added, “So far, we have no idea who was the foreign handler. They attacked Rameshwaram because they wanted to attack a place which is known and crowded and they get more publicity.”
The report added that the idea behind the Rameshwaram cafe blast was to attack employees and staff from software companies during lunchtime. According to them, it had two reasons – it is easy to attack and these foreign MNCs will create panic saying, “They are unsafe in India.”
The sources have indicated that Rameshwaram cafe was not on the initial target list of these terrorists but it “suddenly” became one. According to the Intelligence sources, they suspect that the accused visited many tourist spots in India to do a recce.
They added, “Their earlier targets used to be temples like those in Coimbatore and Mangalore. An attack at a cafe shows traces of Indian Mujahideen which used to attack only crowded places like Sarojini Nagar, Dilsukh Nagar Market in Hyderabad.”
Rameshwaram cafe blast could have possible links with other ISIS/terror modules
Earlier, reports had suggested that the Rameshwaram Cafe blast accused could have possible links to the ISIS Ballari module as similarities in modus operandi have surfaced. As per reports, the Bengaluru Rameshwaram Cafe blast bears resemblance to the Mangaluru Cooker blast case which was linked to the ISIS module.
One of the similarities mentioned in the reports is the assembly of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Moreover, the execution of the blast also appears to have similarities with previous such blasts in the state including the Mangaluru cooker blast.
In December last year, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested eight terrorists in the ISIS Ballari module case including its leader Minaz. The NIA raids had led to the seizure of explosive raw materials, such as Sulphur, Potassium Nitrate, Charcoal, Gunpowder, Sugar and Ethanol, sharp-edged weapons, unaccounted cash, and incriminating documents, along with smartphones and other digital devices. The accused had planned to use the explosive raw materials for the fabrication of IEDs, which were to be used for carrying out terror acts.
Another similarity is that the Bengaluru blast too appears to be a lone wolf attack so far like the Mangaluru cooker blast case.
Other than the ISIS Ballari module, a link to Lashkar-e-Taiba’s module led by terrorist Abdul Karim Tunda aka “Doctor of Bomb” is also emerging. Tunda was acquitted in a terrorist bombing case in Rajasthan just a day before the attack in Bengaluru.
Earlier on 28th March, the NIA had arrested a key conspirator Muzammil Shareef following massive raids across multiple locations in three states. The agency released a statement stating that Shareef was arrested after he was identified as a co-conspirator in the case.
NIA investigations have revealed that arrested Muzammil Shareef had extended logistic support to the other two identified accused in the case, involving an IED explosion at the Cafe located at ITPL road, Brookefield, Bengaluru, on 1st March. Several customers and hotel staff members were injured in the blast, some of them grievously. The blast also caused extensive damage to the property.
NIA, which took over the case on 3rd March, had earlier identified the main accused, Mussavir Shazeeb Hussain, who had carried out the blast. It had also identified another conspirator, Abdul Matheen Taha, who is also wanted by the agency in other cases. Both Mussavir Shazeeb Hussain and Abdul Matheen Taha are on the run.
Meanwhile, as per earlier reports, the two terror outfits IM and SIMI are coming together under one umbrella to carry out major blasts in India.
