NEWS

Kerala to set up anti-terrorist wing

By George Iype in Kochi
May 31, 2003 00:20 IST

The Kerala government is planning to set up an anti-terrorism wing.

There are three reasons for it. Firstly, Mumbai Police Commissioner Ranjit Singh Sharma, following the busting of a terrorist module and two arms training camps in Thane district, said the police had foiled a Lashkar-e-Tayiba plan to carry out bomb blasts in Kerala.

Second, the Kerala police received inputs from the Centre that extremist forces were using the coastal areas of the state for their activities.

Third, the army had last week said terrorist outfits flushed out from Jammu and Kashmir's Pir Panchal ranges through Operation Sarp Vinash, had links in Kerala.

"Terrorism is not confined to any single state in India. But we are meticulously analysing reports that terrorists have been chalking out bomb attack plans in Kerala," Director General of Police Hormis Tharakan said on Friday.

In view of the sensitive nature of the Kerala coast, the state government has requested the Centre to help create a marine police wing.

"Our initial reports reveal that some militant outfits and anti-national organisations linked to terrorist groups are trying to channel huge amounts of money through Kerala," a police officer told rediff.com

The police have already identified a number of such organisations.

Last year, the police arrested a number of hawala operators who allegedly smuggled as much as Rs150 crore to Kerala.

More than half of the nearly three million Indians working in the Gulf countries are from Kerala.

 

George Iype in Kochi

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