A high alert was sounded in Coimbatore on Thursday after intelligence inputs said that six terrorists had entered Tamil Nadu.
“..a group of six LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) terrorists have entered Tamil Nadu through Sri Lanka. The group consists of one Pak National and five Sri Lankan Tamil Muslims,” reads a portion of the alert issued to the officers in Coimbatore. The alert noted that the group had disguised themselves as Hindus with tilak/bhabuti smeared on foreheads. The notice states that the group is now in Coimbatore.
A Hindu report stated that of the six men, one was a Pakistan national named Illyas Anwar and the others were Muslims from Sri Lanka.
A senior police officer in Coimbatore confirmed to TNM that an alert has been issued and stated that the city will have extended security measures in place until further orders. “Vehicle checks are being conducted and random checks will be conducted in crowded places due to the alert,” the officer said. These measures will be in addition to tightened security checks in railway stations and airports in the city. Following the high alert, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Dr K Jayanth Murali is also expected to visit the city to inspect the security arrangements.
In April, a similar alert was sounded in the state in the aftermath of the Easter blasts in Sri Lanka. Across Tamil Nadu, an alert was issued to warn of possible terror strikes in major cities in the state. The prompt for action came from the DGP of Karnataka police, who had arrested a lorry driver after he had called the police control room to report possible terror attacks in major cities across five southern states. Following the tip-off, the Tamil Nadu police beefed up security in public places and also alerted the Railway Protection Force.
Recently, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) booked six persons from Coimbatore for allegedly plotting a terror attack in Tamil Nadu. The NIA had also arrested two men for suspected pro-ISIS activities and for running a Facebook page that propagates the ideology of ISIS and Daish. One of the men who was arrested was also Facebook friends with Zahran Hashim, a suicide bomber and the mastermind behind the Sri Lanka Easter bombings.