UK plot: K'taka police hunt for 'sleeping cells'

Bangalore Police is chasing various leads into the Bangalore connection with the UK terror plot, including the presence of any sleeping terrorist module in Karnataka and this city in particular.     

"We are probing various angles, including whether there were any sleeping modules, which means modules that are still not active," a top official told PTI on Monday.

The modus operandi of a terrorist outfit is to first set up 'sleeping' cells, which collect ground data, arrange for funds to execute the 'mission' and provide logistic support to the 'recruits' who have been deployed on a 'mission,' he said.

The work of a sleeping cell is often to arrange for funding and to provide all the local support required on the ground to enable them to carry out their carefully planned conspiracy. Such cells are 'activated' only when the 'mission' reaches its final stages of completion, he added.

"We are verifying and exploring the possibility of the presence of any such sleeping module," he said, reacting to reports that Mohammed Haneef, a suspect in the Glasgow foiled attack and detained in Australia, was a member of the 'sleeping cell' and handled the funding aspect of a terrorist outfit.

"We are not looking out for one outfit but are exploring the possibilities of other outfits as well," he said, refusing to reveal whether police had stumbled upon any such sleeping terrorist outfit in the state.