ISI plans Mumbai 26/11 type attacks on Visakhapatnam

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh police is on a high alert as Pakistan’s ISI is planning Mumbai-type terror attacks at Visakhapatnam, the financial capital of Andhra Pradesh. DGP J.V. Ramudu said, “Visakhapatnam has a major port and headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command. Vital installations make it vulnerable. Our agencies are working on a tip off after the arrest of a Sri Lankan linked to the ISI. Our police teams, including the marine police, are always on high alert.”

During a law and order review with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu recently in Vijayawada, officials briefed him about alerts on possible attacks by the LeT cadre via the sea route, targeting vital installations along the 974-km coastline. “Recent arrest of ISI agents operating from Sri Lanka revealed that ISI is collecting information about naval establishments in Visakhapatnam to launch 26/11 Mumbai type attacks. Identifying sleeper cells indulging in subversive and sabotage activities is a major challenge,” said an intelligence official.

Police said ISI-backed outfits like Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Jaish-e-Mohammed continue to pose serious threats. “ISIS is also recruiting gullible youths through the social media to spread the ideology and inspire violent terror incidents.”
Meanwhile, intelligence reports said that an outfit called Popular Front of India that claims to be operating in a lawful manner, has influence in districts of Kurnool, Guntur Nellore, Kadapa and Chittoor, and is trying to spread its network to other districts in the state. PFI has not been named in the subversive activity list in the state so far.