PANAJI
Revelations from the investigation conducted by the Special Cell of Delhi Police that the three men, part of a Pakistan-sponsored ISIS terror module, conducted a recce of Goa among several places once again raised concerns about the possibility of Goa being a safe hideout for terrorists.
The Goa Police have however downplayed the severity of the situation claiming the terrorists, arrested in a massive crackdown by the Delhi police, had in fact conducted test blasts in Karnataka forests.
“The trio conducted a test blast in Karnataka forest, which is adjoining Goa. They did not enter Goa. Also, we haven’t received any communiqué from the Delhi Police’s Special Cell regarding these ISIS terrorists’ presence in Goa,” a senior officer said.
As per the Delhi police, the terrorists visited several places like Lavasa, Mahabaleshwar, Goa, and Hubli to find suitable hideouts in the Western Ghats to set up base. One of them also conducted a recce of crowded places, mazars/darghahs, routes of VIP leaders in Mumbai, Surat, Vadodara to plant IEDs to create a more challenging situation for the country.
Shahnawaz Alam (31), hailing from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand; Mohammad Rizwan Ashraf (28), a resident of Lucknow; and Mohammad Arshad Warsi, who comes from Garhwa district in Jharkhand, conducted recce and tested improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in forested areas over several months.
This development has once again raised concerns about the vulnerability of Goa as a possible hideout for terrorists. In the past, Goa has frequently come under the scrutiny of terrorist groups seeking a safe haven.
The shortcomings in intelligence and security measures in Goa were exposed when Indian Mujahideen (IM) suspect Syed Ismail Afaq was arrested in Bangalore a couple of years ago. It was revealed that Afaq had undergone paragliding training in Arambol in 2014, highlighting a lapse in monitoring.
In the same year, Mumbai Police, in collaboration with the Mumbai Crime Branch, raided a bungalow in Saligao, where Shyam Garikapatti, a former aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, was hiding. He had concealed his true identity and went by the name Govind Rao, and lived there for eight long years.
Pakistani-trained Kashmiri terrorist Tariq Ahmed Batlo, Odisha’s top Naxal leader Shambhu Beck, Chota Rajan’s sharpshooter Sheikh Umaid-ur-Rehman Ishrat Hussain, Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Coleman Headley, and Indian Mujahideen’s co-founder Yasin Bhatkal were among others who lived ‘safe’ in Goa until their arrest elsewhere.
