Question : ARREST OF ACCOMPLICES OF HIJACKERS OF IA CRAFT

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI CH. VIDYA SAGAR RAO)

(a) The Mumbai Police have arrested four persons in Mumbai on 30.12.1999.

(b) The arrested persons are: -

1.	Mohd. Rehna	(Pak)	2.	Mohd. Iqbal Kokar	(Pak)	3.	Abdul Latif @ Patel	(Indian)	4.	Yusuf Nepali	(Nepali)

(c) CBI has interrogated only two of them, namely, Abdul Latif @ Patel and Yusuf Nepali. Their involvement is prima facie indicated but no opinion has been formed about the other two.

(d) Interrogation of the arrested persons has revealed that Abdul Latif @ Patel was an important nodal point of ISI activities in Mumbai and he was one of the main conspirators in the hijacking. Yusuf Nepali had also played a role in as much as he procured arms and ammunitions from Kalimpong (West Bengal) a few days before the hijacking and delivered the same to the hijackers. The premises of the arrested persons were searched during which a cache of arms and ammunitions and certain passports purported to have been issued by RPO Mumbai were recovered. During searches passport No.B-0646681 dated 18.8.99 in the name of Javed Ahmed Siddiqui (real name Ibrahim Akhtar) and passport No. B-0723176 dated 7.9.99 in the name of farooque Abdul Aziz Siddiqui were recovered. Both these persons were hijackers and they were code named `Chief` and `Shankar` respectively.