Mobile retailers or terrorists?: India confuses Lahore businessmen with militants

Mumbai put on high alert alleged after five suspected terrorists sneaked into city. Men say they never left Pakistan.

LAHORE: The Mumbai Police released photos of five men belonging to the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) on Wednesday, who had sneaked into the Indian metropolis. Meanwhile, three of suspects identified in the photographs approached a police station in Lahore late on Wednesday, requesting protection.

According to the Times of India, Police and Indian intelligence held a high level meeting after an alert, along with coloured pictures of suspected attackers was issued on Sunday, May 6. Central intelligence agencies had warned that five LeT members, aged between 25-30, had managed to sneak into Mumbai via the sea route. It was believed that the men wanted to attack vital city installations. On Monday, May 7, after police and other security officials met, security was heightened for key Mumbai installations.

A senior police officer who attended police commissioner Arup Patnaik meeting said the central alert states that the five LeT terrorists entered Mumbai a few days ago and are currently hiding here. It also declares that their plan is to "sabotage" key installations close to the coast by "hiring a ferry from the Gateway of India" and "attacking them from the sea".

Another Indian publication, India Today said that the terrorists planned to target 'vital installations'.

In Lahore, after seeing their pictures reported by Indian media, three of those identified, businessmen Atif Butt, Mehtab Butt, and security guard Baber Shabbir, approached their local police station to request for protection.

Talking to The Express Tribune, they said that they owned and operated cell phone retail stores in city’s popular electronic market, Hafeez Centre for many years.

Muhammad Fayyaz Butt, the President of shop keepers committee at Hafeez Centre, while condemning the irresponsible actions of Indian media, told The Express Tribune that Atif Butt had been running a mobile phone business under the banner of Sun Mobiles in Shop 25 on the lower ground floor of the Centre. Mehtab Butt had been operating a similar business in Shop26 on the same floor. Baber Shabbir was a security guard at the Centre.

Atif Butt had been running his store for the past 10 years at the centre, while Mehtab Butt had been operating his business for the past 12 years.

Meanwhile, Shabbir said he had been employed as a security guard at the shopping plaza for the past five years. He added that he was too poor to have a passport made, let alone travel to another country.