A man was detained in Virar, near Mumbai, and is being questioned by the Mumbai criminal branch team that is investigating the threatening messages, the sources said. Mumbai police received messages on WhatsApp at a traffic police Worli control room helpline number at around 11:45 on Friday night. While one message said that six people would carry out the attack, another said that preparations were underway to blow up Mumbai, which will bring back memories of the 11/26 attack.
One person was detained on Saturday in connection with “26/11-like” attack warning messages received by Mumbai police. A man was detained in Virar, near Mumbai, and is being questioned by the Mumbai criminal branch team that is investigating the threatening messages. sources said.
The messages were received on WhatsApp at a traffic police Worli control room helpline number at around 11:45 p.m. Friday. While one message said six people would carry out the attack, another said preparations were underway to blow up Mumbai, which will bring back memories of the 11/26 attack, officials said.
He said that a First Information Report (FIR) under section 506(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code was being registered at the Worli Police Station regarding the threatening messages.
.The criminal branch is also sharing the information with the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad, he added.
Police were also investigating the numbers and people mentioned in the messages, he said, adding that these numbers were Indian. When asked about the fact that the messages were in Hindi and not Urdu and whether there was an attempt to create a fake IP address to make the messages appear to come from a Pakistani number, he said: “We can’t rule out any possibility.” . no investigation.”
Asked about media reports tracing the number back to a Lahore gardener who claimed his number had been “hacked”, the commissioner said police were also looking into this aspect. Police are already on high alert during the current holiday season, he added.
The threatening messages came a day after a yacht was found off the coast of Raigad, near Mumbai, with AK-47 rifles and live bullets on board, causing a scare, though authorities said there had been no no terrorist angle on it.
The ten Pakistani terrorists, including Kasab, who caused chaos in Mumbai and killed at least 166 people had arrived in the city by sea on November 26, 2008.