IB sleuths nab engg student for links with terrorist groups

VELLORE: A 21-year-old second year engineering college student was nabbed by intelligence sleuths in an early morning operation in Ambur town in Tirupattur district following disclosures that he was in constant touch with banned outfits abroad, on Saturday.

The operation was the result of New Delhi based intelligence officials informing their Chennai counterparts of frequent calls from Ambur and Arcot towns in Tirupattur and Ranipet districts respectively to various banned outfits at various locations abroad.

Based on this, a team of officials including those from the central government’s IB, the state government’s Q branch and SIU (special investigation unit) went to the student’s house at Neelikollai area in Ambur town around 3 am and whisked him away for questioning.

However, fearing a reaction from the dominant minority community, the police took him to Anaicut police station and immediately cordoned off a 300-feet area in front of the station as being out of bounds to the public, due to the ongoing interrogation.

However, this was lifted two hours later to avoid unnecessary focus on the police station, sources revealed. The interrogators seized two high end mobile phones from the student who is currently doing second year engineering in a private college near Arcot town.

“In the evening a 4-member technical team from Chennai also arrived at Anaicut police station to decipher the information from the seized mobile phones and laptop,” sources said.