Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu), July 27 (IANS) A man suspected to be a member of a banned organisation was detained here Sunday with a large cache of explosives and two timer devices with plans to blow up several places on the Independence Day, police said.
'Initial interrogation revealed that Sheikh Abdul Ghaffoor, 39, had plans to bomb state capital Chennai and three other cities in Tamil Nadu including the collectorate here, at least six trains and one beyond the state's borders,' a police official said.
'The suspect is said to be working with either a textile or leather showroom in a suburb of the metropolis. There are indications the plot was hatched in a prison cell in the outskirts of Chennai by alleged ringleader P. Ali Abdullah, a life convict serving sentences since 2003 and trained in Pakistan before conviction,' the official said on condition of anonymity.
Abdullah, involved in at least eight cases and serving multiple sentences, was being questioned inside the prison, officials speaking on phone from capital Chennai, 600 km north of here, added.
