Suspects in police custody until January 21

BENGALURU: The three suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives arrest-ed with a cache of explosives and communication devices were on Friday remanded in police custody by a special court till January 21. Syed Ismail Afaq, 34, Saddam Hussein (in pic), 35 and Abdus Subur, 24 were arrested from Cox Town, east Bengaluru, and Bhatkal during simultaneous raids by the Central Crime Branch and state internal security di vision on Thursday. The police allegedly seized around 4kg ammonium nitrate, 3kg gelatin gel, 10-12 electric circuits, detonators and some communication devices during the raids. The three men, in masks, were brought to the city civil court under heavy police protection around 3.30pm. Within half-an hour, the court's decision to send them to police custody was an nounced by police officers. "Police have got the custody of Syed Ismail Afaq, Saddam Hussein and Abdus Subur in the Indian Mujahideen explosive seizure case, up to January 21," said Abhishek Goyal, deputy commissioner of police, crime. MN Reddi, city police commissioner, said, "We have some information about their handler, but we can't reveal the details now," he said. -TOI