The Bangalore police on Saturday announced the arrest of a 31-year-old former SIMI activist based in Oman for financing the July 25 serial blasts in Bangalore carried out by a module from Kerala. They say he is linked to the Lashkar-e-Toiba as well.

The police claimed to have arrested Sarfaraz Nawaz, a native of Kerala, while he was attempting to board a bus in the Kalasipalyam area of Bangalore on February 27. However, sources say he was picked up in Muscat by central agencies and secretly brought to Bangalore.

Apart from financing the Bangalore blasts to the tune of Rs 3.25 lakh, Nawaz is a part of a LeT module that was plotting attacks on key scientists in India, Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari said. “In December 2008, Nawaz along with Jasim and Ali (both members of LeT) discussed some plan to attack some prominent scientists of India and some other important personalities,” he said.

Sources said Jasim and Ali, an Omani national, were together responsible for funding the the journey of 26/11 Mumbai attack accused Fahim Ansari to Pakistan for terror training.

Nawaz has also been linked during his stay in Oman since 2001 to one of the founding presidents of SIMI, C A M Basheer, who is believed to be in exile in the Middle-east.

The Bangalore police said Nawaz had been linked to the SIMI since 1995 and was an office secretary at the outfit’s Delhi office in 2000 before he left for Muscat in 2001. He allegedly became part of the conspiracy to carry out blasts in Bangalore on the instructions of LeT leaders based in the Gulf region such as Wali alias Rehan and Ali the Omani national.