Ahmedabad: An alleged key conspirator of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts has been arrested by the Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS), an official said on Friday.
Acting on a tip-off, 52-year-old Ahmed Shaikh, also known as Ahmed Lambu, was arrested on Thursday evening by an ATS team near Valsad coast in south Gujarat, the official said.
"Shaikh was absconding since the blasts. A red-corner notice (international look-out notice) had been issued against him. We will hand him over to the CBI now," Gujarat ATS Superintendent of Police said.
The CBI probed the Mumbai serial blasts of March 1993 in which 257 people were killed and over 700 injured. Shaikh was carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head, the SP said.
Shaikh, who lived in a dormitory in Mumbai, left the country immediately after the blasts, another senior police official said. "He was one of the key accused in the conspiracy to smuggle explosives into India and conduct blasts at the behest of Dawood Ibrahim. Shaikh was introduced to Dawood by Mohammad Dosa (another conspirator)," he said.
Shaikh allegedly attended a meeting with Dawood in Dubai where the conspiracy was chalked out, the official added. "As directed by Dawood, Shaikh and some others went to Pakistan from Dubai to train in bomb-making, handling firearms and converting vehicles into bombs. Shaikh was also involved in the landing of RDX on the Raigad coast in Maharashtra," he said.
Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, two alleged masterminds of the blasts, are still absconding, while over hundred others, including gangster Abu Salem, were convicted.
