March 2003 Mumbai Bombing: Terrorist CAM Basheer detained in Canada; extradition procedures on

CAM Basheer, a man trained in Pakistan and fled Bharat from Aluva near Kochi, has been detained in Canada. He was detained just before he tried to fly out of Canada. It is reported that the former national president of the now outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), and one of the earliest leaders of the outfit, is one of the most wanted terror operators in the country. Sitting abroad, he has been reportedly controlling the terrorists in Bharat. Senior police officials in Mumbai say efforts are on for Basheer’s extradition, who faces a Red Corner Notice (RCN). He allegedly played a big role in the powerful Mulund train blast in Mumbai in 2003, which left twelve dead and 70 injured. Saquib Nachan, the then general secretary of SIMI, was also accused in the Mulund train blast case, Known as March 2003 Mumbai bombing. He was released in 2017 after ten years.

Reports suggest that Mumbai police have started the procedures to extradite Chennapparambil Muhammed Basheer. Police have approached a court in Mumbai to seek permission to collect blood samples from Basheer’s relatives. The idea is to carry out DNA tests for ascertaining Basheer’s identity. The court has approached his sister to obtain her cooperation with the procedure.

Basheer is an aeronautical engineer and worked at New Delhi airport for some time. Basheer came on investigative agencies’ radar during intelligence collection about Indian Mujahideen. He reportedly operated from the Gulf countries under cover of the Distant Education Centre of Kerala University. He fled before intelligence agencies could catch him. He used fake passports and moved to Pakistan and Canada without hindrance. He recruited Bharatiya youths to terrorist groups like Lashkr-e-Taiba and organised terror training for them. According to reports, he came to Bharat in 2001 to settle the altercations that took place among the rank and file of SIMI after the Union Government banned the outfit. But, the attempt did not succeed. Intelligence agencies are believed to have got wind of Basheer’s involvement in ISI’s grand design to create a common ‘Pan-India Infrastructure for Khalistan and Kashmir radical terrorists in the Bharat.’ ISI calls it ‘K2.’