Mangaluru: With each passing day, interesting aspects related to Mangaluru cooker bomb blast case are emerging and now it has come to light that the satellite phone has been activated the day before the blast.
The satellite phone rang in the forest areas of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada Districts. Police are investigating the matter and it is possible that the accused Sharique contacted the handlers through a satellite phone.
It has been reported that the banned Turaya satellite phone was used. On November 18, the day before the blast, a satellite phone rang at Kakkinje in Bantwal and on November 19 at around 4:29 pm, a cooker bomb exploded in Mangaluru. Sharique, the main accused in the case, is likely to have been in touch with sleeper cells over a satellite phone.
Two in Dakshina Kannada District, one in Udupi District and a part of a forest area in Uttara Kannada District have been connected via satellite phone, the sources said. Satellite phone location has been traced by intelligence agencies.
The media was reporting about the frequent use of banned Turaya satellite phones in the Coastal and Malnad regions for nearly five years. During the investigation, the police has revealed that a sketch of the cooker bomb blast had been hatched in Dubai. The investigation has been intensified in this regard as well. Sources in the investigation team said that Arafat Ali and Abdul Mateen, both residents of Theerthahalli, who are accused in the grafitti case, are the masterminds of the blast.
The Police has received information that Arafat Ali, the mastermind behind the graffiti in Mangaluru, the Shivamogga Tunga beach blast and riots, and the Mangaluru cooker bomb blast, is targeting and brainwashing innocent youth. In the Mangaluru blasts too, the police found that he had directed Sharique. Arafat Ali, Mateen, Sharique and the suspected Maaz, who is in judicial custody, had sent a video through the dark web. Investigations revealed that they were also using the signal app to connect with each other.
The police are on the lookout for Arafat Ali and Abdul Mateen, who have always inspired militancy. Maaz is an engineering student and the police suspect that he had guided Shariq in making bombs through YouTube.
