Top terror suspect Abdul Karim Tunda held by Delhi police

Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT) Abdul Karim Tunda, one of the most wanted terrorists in the world, was arrested by Delhi police’s special cell early on Friday morning from India-Nepal border. Tunda, the right hand man of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and a close aide of LeT boss Hafiz Saeed, is listed as one of India’s top 20  wanted terrorists, for whom a manhunt is on for the past two decades.

Tunda, LeT’s bomb expert, has been involved in 40 terror strikes so far and 33 cases are registered against him in India. In Delhi, he is wanted in 21 terror cases (for attacks in 1994, 1996 and 1998). He is also wanted in the Mumbai serial train blasts (13 explosions) of 1993, which killed around 250 people and injured more than 700 innocents, serial train blasts in Hyderabad and bombing in Uttar Pradesh.

SN Shrivastava, special commissioner of police (special cell), said: ‘With the help of the inputs shared by central intelligence agencies, a trap was laid near the borders to apprehend him. His recognition was made possible using the sketch attached in the red corner notice that was issued few years ago. Tunda was held from Banbasa - Mahendranagar border with Nepal. He was carrying a Pakistani passport (AC 4413161) issued in the name of Abdul Quddus.’

After the Mumbai serial blasts, Tunda fled to Bangladesh. In 2000, there were reports that he has been killed in a Bangladesh terror attack. But his continuing involvement came to notice in August 2005 when Abdul Razzak Masood, an alleged LeT chief coordinator in Dubai, arrested by the special cell of the Delhi police, disclosed that Tunda was alive and he had met him in Lahore in December, 2003. 

Sources in the special cell told Millennium Post: ‘A full-proof plan to carry out a series of terror attacks was planned by Saeed and others in LeT  after 15 August in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. To execute the terror strikes, Tunda was supposed to enter India through the Nepal border.’

Recently, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had written two warning letters to Delhi police and other states sharing its input regarding the possible terror attacks in the cities. Acting upon those letters, Delhi was kept on high alert. 

Millennium Post had reported that in its letter IB mentioned that a terror attack can take place after Independence Day.

‘There was a reason to send Tunda to carry out terror attacks. Saeed was aware of the high alert, so he did not take the risk of importing explosives and terrorists from Pakistan,’ the source added. Sanjeev Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (special cell), said, ‘Tunda trains young radicals in bomb making with locally available material like urea, nitric acid, potassium chloride, nitro benzene and sugar and teaches them to plant the bombs at crowded places. He also gives training to make improvised explosive devices (IEDs).’

The information about the serial blasts was already sent to the LeT’s sleeper cells active in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, the source said. Saeed had delivered two speeches, one last month in Pakistan, where he had openly threatened that members of his outfit will carry out an attack in India’s capital and another on the occasion of Eid.

Yadav added: ‘Tunda is a big fish  in our net. He is a close aide of Dawood and Saeed. His arrest could give us clues about them and their network in India, Pakistan and Dubai.’ Mumbai police is also seeking for his police custody as Tunda is  wanted in cases registered there.