NIA arrests one for 2006 Kerala twin blasts from Delhi airport

New Delhi: A week after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Mohammad Ashar, the counter-terror probe agency on Friday said it has arrested another absconding accused in the 2006 Kerala twin blasts from the airport here.

P.P. Yoosaf, who had since been absconding, was arrested on Friday from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport here after he arrived from Saudi Arabia, an NIA spokesperson told IANS.

He was produced later in the day before an NIA Special Court in the national capital to obtain a transit remand to take him to Kochi for his production before the Special Court in Ernakulam.

According tothe NIA official, Yoosaf, along with Ashar, who was arrested on January 23, had assisted T. Naseer in preparing the IEDs and had planted them at bus stands in Kozhikode City.

The twin blasts near the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation and Mofussil bus stands had rocked Kozhikode on March 3, 2006, and left two persons injured and a few properties damaged.

The NIA had taken over the case from the Kerala Police in 2009 and filed the chargesheet against eight accused in August 2010 under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Arms Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The NIA official said thier probe revealed that besides Yoosaf and Ashar, were involved in the conspiracy hatched by prime accused T. Naseer and others to carry out the IED blasts after bail was denied to the accused involved in the Marad communal riots of 2003 in Kozhikode district.

Ashar and Yoosaf had assisted Naseer in preparing the Improvised Explosive Devices and planting them.