The suspects in the Mangaluru Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast case were self-radicalised and learnt rudimentary bomb-making from groups on encrypted messaging platforms, a police officer privy to the investigation said on Tuesday.
The main suspects in the case are 24-year-old Mohammed Shariq and his associates Abdul Matheen Taha, Arafat Ali, Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Syed Yasin тАФ all residents of Thirthahalli in Shivamogga district.
тАЬSo far, we have found that they had no connections with any organisations but they accessed content provided by the Islamic State through various sources. Out of their own motivation, they have planned these activities,тАЭ said the officer who didnтАЩt want to be named.
According to the officer, among the group, only Taha is an alleged member of an Al-Hind module aimed to establish an IS province in the jungles of South India.
тАЬThere are many closed groups on Telegram and several other encrypted messaging platforms associated with Islamic State which provide propaganda material and Do It Yourself (DIY) videos of bombs and explosives. They have used this,тАЭ he added.
The officer also added that videos on how to make a bike bomb, and cooker bomb were recovered from ShariqтАЩs phone.
A day after the blast in Mangaluru, which took place inside an autorickshaw and injured the driver and the bomber Shariq, state police chief Praveen Sood had declared the incident an тАЬact of terror with the intention to cause serious damageтАЭ.
On Tuesday, another officer familiar with the case pointed out that the nature of the IED shows that the group didnтАЩt have large funding or support. He said potassium chlorate was used in making the bomb тАФ the chemical is used in match boxes and crackers.
The police recovered 150 matchboxes, sulphur powder and gunpowder from ShariqтАЩs house in Mysuru on Sunday night. There was a time delay mechanism of a washing machine commonly available in the market, used in the bomb, said the officer.
Shariq was arrested in December 2020 after pro-terror graffiti was found on a wall and a building in Mangaluru. Mazz Muneer Ahmed, aka, Mazz, who was then 21-years-old was also arrested in the same case.
Police also suspect that Shariq used some of the money raised for his legal fight after his arrest in 2020 in the pro-terror case to buy the equipment used to make the bomb.
In September 2022, ShariqтАЩs name cropped up in another terror-related case.
On September 23, Shivamogga police had said that two associates of a person arrested in connection with a stabbing during a clash over Hindutva ideologue V D SavarkarтАЩs poster in Shivamogga on August 15 have links to the Islamic State.
One of the four arrested men had named Mazz as an associate. When police took Mazz into custody, he told police that along with Shariq, he had conducted trial bomb blasts on the banks of the Tungabhadra river.
Meanwhile, Mangaluru police commissioner N Shashi Kumar on Tuesday rubbished claims about a video circulating on social media of two of the suspects. He said the police came across a тАЬrandom (and) unverified video (in which) two men appear near a wine shopтАЭ.
тАЬIt is circulating on social media but it is not a video in connection with the case,тАЭ he said.
He also said Shariq is recovering from injuries and that police are ready to interrogate him when he is fit,тАЭ he said.
According to a senior officer, since he inhaled large amounts of smoke after the explosion, Shariq has lost his voice and continues to be on ventilator support.
Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said that the Karnataka police are alert about terror activities and that they had busted 18 terror sleeper cells in the state over a period of time.
тАЬYou should know that the Karnataka police have busted 18 terror sleeper cells and sent them to jail. They are still on alert about the terror activities in the state. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has initiated measures to track the movements of terror organisations, be it international or national, which is behind the Mangaluru blast suspect. We have taken this case very seriously,тАЭ he told reporters.
