Indian agencies have apprehended Abu Bakar, accused of executing the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, in a major overseas operation on Wednesday, India Today reported. According to the report, Bakar had been residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Pakistan.
The agencies investigating the matter have also arrested Firoz, who is the second accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.
According to the police, Firoz made frequent trips between the Middle East and Navi Mumbai. Then Joint Commissioner of Police, Rakesh Maria, had said after the arrest, that the police had ‘recieved a tip-off about his real identity’ during one of his trips to Oman in 2010 February.
Citing evidence, the report stated that Firoz had met Abu Bakar Abdul Gafur Shaikh in 1989. They have been accused of purchasing smuggled goods such as TV sets, refrigerators, VCRs and selling them to shops on Lamington Road, Mumbai.
Firoz stated, in his confession, that he met Dawood Ibrahim in Karachi in 1996-97 and in 1999. He returned to India in 2005 and assumed a false identity.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said that Firoz had full knowledge of the conspiracy and he “actively participated in the preparatory work of landing the arms” at Dighi jetty.
The 1993 Bombay bombings were a series of 12 bomb explosions that took place in Mumbai, India, then known as Bombay, on 12 March 1993. The coordinated attacks, reportedly ‘carried out in revenge for earlier riots’ killed many people and were considered the most-destructive bomb explosions in Indian history.
