Suspected terrorist arrested in Mangaluru International Air port

Mangaluru: NIA has arrested one suspected terrorist in the city in connection with the Bengaluru Church street bomb blast. The arrested has been identified as Riyaz Ahmed Sayyed, a resident of Bhatkal.

The arrest was done on the late night of Saturday January 10 at Mangaluru International Air port. The accused was preparing to flee to Dubai from Mangaluru International Air port at around 11.20pm on Saturday.

It is said that the arrest is the relative of Indian Mujahiddin founder Riyaz Bhatkal.

The Bengaluru police had on January 8 arrested Syed Ismail Afaq (34), Abdus Subur (23) and Saddam Hussain (35) and claimed to have seized a large cache of explosives. The parents of the accused and the locals, however have been claiming that they are innocent.

As per police sources, it is suspected that Riyaz had a hand in terror attacks in different parts of the country. It has also come to light during investigations that the three accused arrested earlier were involved in terror attacks in Hyderabad and Chennai, police sources said, and that Ismail Afaq used to often visit Pakistan.

However, Bengaluru police commissioner M N Reddi said that there is no information yet on their roles in the recent Bengaluru Church Street blast.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Bhatkal, Riyaz's father Khwaja said that his son was innocent. "Riyaz is employed in Dubai and had come to Bhatkal just 15 days ago. He was supposed to return to Dubai three days ago, but as we had no money for the ticket, his journey got postponed. We came to know about his arrest only through the media," he said.