One person was held in this regard on Saturday after a message threatening an attack similar to the “26/11 terror blitz, the murder of the Udaipur tailor, or the murder of Sidhu Moosewala” was received by the Mumbai Police traffic control cell on Friday night. The crime branch team, which is looking into the threat messages, has detained a man from Virar near Mumbai and is questioning him, according to sources. According to authorities, the threat was sent to the traffic control cell’s WhatsApp account from a number with the Pakistani country code.
Police said that the message threatened that “six guys in India would carry out the attack” and that it would happen in Mumbai. The messenger claimed that their “location” would be outside if it were to be tracked.
Speaking during a press conference in Mumbai, he stated that the city police and the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) have been placed on notice as a result of receiving the communications.
“Police received messages around 11.30 pm on Friday, which threatened that a 26/11-like attack would be carried out in Mumbai and the city would be blown up. There was a mention of 26/11 attacks terrorist Ajmal Kasab and (deceased) al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in the messages,” he said.
A city police official in the daytime claimed that the text messages were received on the WhatsApp account of the Mumbai traffic police hotline, which was run from its Worli control centre.
According to one of the communications, the attack will be carried out by six persons, while another stated that plans were being made to blow up Mumbai, which would bring back memories of the 26/11 bombings, he added.
Phansalkar further said : “Police received messages around 11.30 pm on Friday, which threatened that a 26/11-like attack would be carried out in Mumbai and the city would be blown up. There was a mention of 26/11 attacks terrorist Ajmal Kasab and (deceased) Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in the messages,” he said, adding, “it was also mentioned that some of their aides are working in India. Prima facie, the threat messages came from a number that has the country code of Pakistan.”
On November 26, 2008, 166 people were killed and over 300 others were injured in one of the most horrifying terrorist attacks in the nation’s history as 10 heavily armed terrorists from Pakistan wreaked havoc in Mumbai.
