Top Intelligence sources told that the two guys detained from Digha, West Bengal, in connection with the Rameshwaram Cafe bombing in Bengaluru were able to avoid capture for 42 days by choosing inexpensive hiding places and remaining calm in the face of a nationwide warning for them.
The males, known as Abdul Matheen Taahaa and Mussavir Hussain Shazib, were taken into custody on Friday. According to reports, in an attempt to avoid detection, they chose to travel by car, used their phones less, and went to popular tourist destinations.
“The males didn’t appear to be in a rush or panicked. They had an extremely frugal lifestyle, staying in motels that only cost between Rs 400 and Rs 500 a night. When the accused had an ATM card and their account was connected to the handler’s account, cryptocurrency was utilized, according to the sources.
Although authorities have not yet completed the men’s itinerary in its entirety, they have reported that the guys visited West Bengal, Chennai, and Odisha.
Following the explosion, nothing was planned. They made all of their decisions on the spot and moved on to avoid getting caught. It may have been an error, but their longest stay was at a Digha lodge. They utilized various identities, including those from their home states of Jharkhand, Karnataka, Tripura, and Maharashtra. According to the local demographics, they made sure that every hotel and lodge had a unique false ID, with surnames like Patel, Dass, and Agarwal,” the sources continued.
The guys departed for Chennai following the March 1 bombing, then made their way into West Bengal.
The intriguing thing is that neither the quantity received nor the lack of it was extreme. According to the Intel sources, over these 42 days, they were both waiting for things to calm down and searching for the next target.
The NIA and other intelligence organizations have made significant progress in their efforts to apprehend the accused, since they have deciphered the pattern they were operating under while evading capture.
#WATCH | Bengaluru's The Rameswaram Cafe blast case | West Bengal: The two prime suspects – Adbul Matheen Taha and Mussavir Hussain Shazeb – brought to the NIA Court in Kolkata. pic.twitter.com/taVbFaeziA
— ANI (@ANI) April 12, 2024After the incident, according to sources, the suspects exclusively stayed in private lodges and guesthouses where identity checks were not necessary. Agencies discovered the cap one of the guys was wearing, which led to the initial breakthrough. I bought it from a shop in Chennai. We then began observing their pattern of stay. They lodged in Chennai as well, and then they had to flee. We observed every little town and tourist destination where hotels are not subject to identity checks. In Digha, they were eventually located.
In a previous statement, authorities stated that Taahaa was the brains behind the preparation and carrying out of the explosion, and that Shazib had planted the IED, which had an hourly timer, inside the Brookefield café on March 1.
Following the explosion at the well-known restaurant in the neighborhood, ten people were hurt. With more stringent security, the café reopened on March 15. A transit remand of three days has been issued to the agency by the NIA Special Court in Kolkata, where the two accused were brought following their arrest.
The males, who live in the Karnataka area of Shivamogga and are connected to the Mangaluru pressure cooker blast of 2022, are inhabitants of Thirthahalli. “They are close acquaintances of the person who carried out the bomb in Mangaluru, Muhammad Shariq. They could have been preparing to detonate a large IED and execute a significant explosion. They are being funded and hidden by a foreign handler, according to sources.
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