Chennai: Multiple teams of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday conducted simultaneous searches at 40 locations in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka in connection with last year’s car blast in Coimbatore and auto rickshaw cooker blast in Mangaluru.
The searches led to seizure of a large number of digital devices and cash amounting to four lakh rupees.
While 32 locations were searched in Tamil Nadu and Kerala in connection with the car blast case, eight places came under the radar of the NIA teams in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka in connection with the Mangaluru blast case.
“Houses of suspects were searched on the basis of investigational findings at 32 locations in the districts of Coimbatore (14), Trichy (1), Nilgiris (2), Tirunelveli (3), Tuticorin (1), Chennai (3), Thiruvannamalai (2), Dindigul (1), Mayiladuthurai (1), Krishnagiri (1), Kanyakumari (1) and Tenkasi (1) of Tamil Nadu, Ernakulam(1) of Kerala,” said the NIA in relation to the car blast case. As for the auto rickshaw cooker blast case, the teams searched eight locations - Tiruppur (2) and Coimbatore (1) of Tamil Nadu, Ernakulam (4) of Kerala and Mysuru (1) of Karnataka.
Coimbatore car blast
The first case relates to a bomb blast in a car laden with explosives in front of Kottai Eswaran Temple of Coimbatore District. “The accused, Jamesha Mubeen after swearing Bayath (allegiance) to ISIS was planning to carry out a suicide attack on 23.10.2022 and cause extensive damage to the Temple Complex with the intention to strike terror among a section of the society,” the NIA said.
Pressure cooker blast in Mangaluru
The second case relates to a Pressure Cooker bomb / improvised explosive device (IED) blast that took place in a moving auto-rickshaw in Mangaluru City, Karnataka State on 19.11.2022, while the accused was carrying the bomb for planting it in a public place.
Further investigation is on.
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