Ambala (Haryana): A possible terror attack was foiled just days before the Diwali festival with the recovery of over 5-kg explosives and detonators from a car parked outside the Ambala Cantt Railway Station, police said today.
Acting on a tip-off, a joint police team of Delhi and Haryana found the explosives in a blue Indica car parked outside the railway station last night.
"Five detonators, two timer devices, five kg explosives in two packets and two batteries were seized from the car lying parked outside the railway station," Haryana's Director General of Police, Ranjiv Dalal, who along with senior officials of Haryana Police rushed to the spot, said.
A box of sweets was found lying in the car, which showed that it was purchased from Jammu's Bari Brahmna area besides two newspapers from Jammu and Kashmir.
The car was bearing a fake Haryana registration number and police suspect that it was a stolen one.
When asked if the intended target of the terror plot could have been Delhi, Dalal said, "Senior officers from various investigating and security agencies are here. We are probing every angle".
As the cantonment area is also located in Ambala, police would also be probing if the target could have been a military installation in the region.
The explosives have been sent for forensic test and a team of National Security Guard (NSG) from Delhi has been rushed to the spot, police said, adding the nature of explosives was being studied.
Security agencies will be going through the CCTV footages available at various toll barriers in Punjab and Haryana through which the car may have passed, police sources said. After recovery of the explosives, security personnel thoroughly checked the car, which was bearing the registration number HR-O3-R-0055.
The tyres of the vehicle and some other parts were removed to check for presence of any more explosives, the sources said.
In view of the approaching Diwali festival, vigil has been stepped up around key installations and crowded public places including the railway stations in the state.
According to preliminary investigations, the captured CCTV footage showed the car had two occupants, police sources said.
Police is now trying to verify the details and hunt down those who drove the car to Ambala cantt, which falls along National Highway number 1, about 200 km from Delhi.
Delhi Police had been trailing the vehicle and it was said to have yesterday passed from the Lakhanpur toll barrier along Jammu-Pathankot barrier, a police official said.
It was Delhi Police who alerted their Haryana counterparts about the car after which Haryana Police officials, Government Railway Police and the Railway Protection Force personnel rushed to the spot.
Initial investigations point out that the car laden with explosives was headed for Delhi and was abandoned by its occupant(s) who may have turned suspicious about security agencies trailing the vehicle.
The explosives which was headed in the shape of a consignment to some destination could have caused a major explosion and inflicted casualties, but the timely action helped avert a major tragedy, the sources said.
Asked if terror outfit LeT could have been behind the plot, senior police officials who were present here said, all the angles were being probed and at the moment various agencies were coordinating to unearth the entire conspiracy.
An alert had been sounded in Haryana and neighbouring Punjab and security personnel had been asked to remain on alert and maintain strict vigil and track any suspicious movement of people or vehicles.
Efforts were on to trace the original owner of the car and police and other security personnel were also trying to take accounts from eyewitnesses who may seen the car driver.
Police said the fake number put on the car is registered in the name of a Panchkula-based business enterprise.
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