BENGALURU: Police arrested three terror suspects, on Thursday, who are believed to be Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives, conducting two simultaneous raids, one in the heart of the city, in Cox Town, and another in the coastal town of Bhatkal.

Syed Ismail Afaq, 34, and Saddam Hussein, 35, were arrested from a house in Cox Town in the city while Abdus Subur, 24, an MBA student, was arrested from Bhatkal. All three are natives of Bhatkal Town.

The joint operation was conducted by the city police and the Internal Security Division (ISD) officials.

Interestingly, the police said that prima facie, they were not involved in the Church Street bomb blast case, signaling that the three had been netted after the Dec. 28 blast saw a stepped up investigation that netted activists with links to the shadowy Indian Mujahideen.

Subur’s home, in Tengengundi Cross in Bhatkal, owned by his father Mohammed Hussain, currently admitted in a hospital in Kozhikode for surgery, may have been an IM safe house. Both houses had a stash of explosives and other bomb making material.