Rameshwaram cafe blast: NIA arrests ex-convict in LeT terror conspiracy case

New Delhi [India], May 24 : Three days after a massive crackdown across four states in the Rameshwaram Cafe blast case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday arrested one more accused.
The arrested accused has been identified as an ex-convict in a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror conspiracy case. Thirty-five-year-old Shoaib Ahmed Mirza, alias Chhotu, a resident of Hubbali City, Karnataka, is the fifth accused to be arrested in the case.

NIA investigations revealed that Mirza, who was convicted earlier in a LeT Bengaluru conspiracy case, was involved in this fresh conspiracy after being released from jail, said the NIA in a statement.
In 2018, the NIA said, Mirza had befriended and introduced accused Abdul Matheen Taha to an online handler suspected to be abroad.
"Mirza had further provided an e-mail ID for encrypted communication between the handler and Abdul Matheen Taha, who was arrested earlier on April 12 from his hideout in Kolkata (West Bengal) along with co-accused Mussavir Hussain Shazib," the NIA had said.

During the course of its investigation into the Rameshwaram Cafe blast, which took place on took place on March 1 this year, NIA has so far conducted extensive searches at 29 locations across India.
Further investigations into the role of handler and larger conspiracy behind the blast, which left several injured and caused extensive damage to property, are underway.