The state Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Friday obtained a warrant from a local court to get custody of alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba operative Salim alias Aslam Kashmiri, arrested in the capital by the Delhi Police special cell on August 25. The ATS is seeking his custody for his alleged role in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.

“We have confirmed that the LeT terrorist arrested by the Delhi police is Aslam Kashmiri who is wanted in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case. He was responsible for sending several accused in that case to Pakistan for terror training,” said Additional Director General of Police (ATS) K P Raghuvanshi.

“We have secured a warrant to get his custody on Friday and will produce it before the New Delhi court. We will take his custody and ascertain certain facts,” said Raghuvanshi.

In May 2006, ATS had seized 43 kg of RDX, 16 AK-47 rifles, 3,200 ammunition rounds and 50 hand grenades on the Nashik-Aurangabad Highway. The police have arrested 18 persons in the case and booked them under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). At present, there is a stay on the trial in the case.

The Delhi Police had seized a ticket booked from Amritsar to Nanded from Kashmiri along with two sweet packets containing chemical explosives, four detonators and two timers, leading to speculation that he was headed for Nanded to carry out a strike during the Ganesh Chaturthi festivities.

The ATS, however, has now completely ruled out the possibility that Kashmiri was heading for Maharashtra to carry out a terror attack.

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