MUMBAI: The five alleged Indian Mujahideen (IM) terror suspects arrested here were planning serial blasts in the financial capital and had surveyed locations and brought explosives into the city, a senior police official said here. "Mumbai was a definite target and the explosives had been brought here for the same. They were planning to carry out serial blasts here," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria said. Some members of the group had surveyed crowded spots and obtained the explosives in July, he said.

"It was not known when they were planning to carry out the blasts." The suspects, nabbed from the metropolis last week, have been accused of having carried out multiple explosions in the country since 2005, including the recent Delhi, Ahmedabad and Bangalore serial blasts.

The explosives for these blasts were obtained from Karnataka where wanted accused Roshan Khan alias Riyaz Bhatkal, one of the founding members of IM who allegedly created a stockpile there, police said. Police said they had recovered 10 kg of ammonium nitrate and gelatin from the Trombay residence of arrested Mohammed Saddik Shaikh, who is also allegedly one of the founding members of the IM. Police reportedly also picked up Saddik's younger brother from their residence in Trombay. "We had called him for inquiry since we had some doubts but we have released him," Maria said.

Vital role of Usmani A senior Crime Branch official said Afzal Usmani, the suspected mastermind and founder member of Indian Mujahideen, was the key link in providing vital information about other members of the terrorist outfit. Usmani went to Gujarat after stealing vehicles from Navi Mumbai on July seven and rented a hotel room along with other wanted accused-- Kisan Vanzari and Amin Shah.

"Usmani and the others took a room in Shrinath Hotel in Valsad district (Gujarat) where he registered under a false name but wrote down his original mobile number," the official said. He had registered two of his mobile numbers along with the vehicle number (GJ6CD3569) when he checked in, he said. Also, Usmani received several calls at the same time, in which he revealed his next destination, that helped the Mumbai Crime Branch track him, leading to his arrest at a railway station near Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, while trying to board a train, the official added.

The police are still on the look out for Vanzari and Shah, who had also stolen vehicles from Navi Mumbai and are suspected to be involved in the recent blasts at Delhi and Ahmedabad. The trio had checked into the hotel on July nine at 23:00 hours and had checked out the next morning. They had cited their visit as a business one and their nationality as Indians.

The police had earlier arrested five persons- Afzal Mutahib Usmani, Mohammad Saddik Shaikh, Mohammad Aarif Shaikh, Ahmed Zakir Shaikh and Shaikh Mohammad Ansari for their involvement in Delhi, Ahmedabad and all other blasts across the country since 2005. Joint Commissioner of police (Crime) Rakesh Maria had said that three of these accused had conducted a survey of Mumbai last month in order to identify possible places for terrorist attacks.

The Thane Crime Branch had arrested four more persons from Mumbra for aiding Aarif in connection with the blasts. The four identified as Riyaz Ahmed, Naved Qureshi, Rashid Sheikh and Farooq Sheikh, all hailing from Mumbra area in Thane, had allegedly aided Aarif in finding a house in their locality. The five arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch had been remanded to police custody till October seven and the four arrested have been remanded to police custody for a week.