Bhatkal, face of modern day terrorism

Branded as the face of modern day terrorism, Zarar Ahmed Siddibaba alias Yasin Bhatkal of the banned Indian Mujahideen(IM) arrested last night gained cult status in the home grown terror network after the 2008 Delhi serial blasts.
After he managed to give the slip to police on two occasions, 30-year-old Yasin, one of India's most wanted terrorists, is a prize catch for which Intelligence Bureau(IB) sleuths worked day and night after picking up his presence in Nepal.
Scores of people have lost their lives in terror attacks in which Yasin had a hand. Yasin is stated to have planted bombs personally in some attacks.

Caught on close-circuit television at least on three occasions, he managed to give the slip to Mumbai and Kolkata Police twice before the long arm of law caught up with him at the Indo-Nepal border near Gorakhpur last night.
Yasin was one of the several cases where well educated youths became radicalised and took to terror activities.
At the age of 21, Yasin had emerged as one of the close confidante of ganglord-turned terrorist and founder of IM Amir Reza Khan and was the key figure in ensuring that bombs and anti-national material were transported from a beach house in Karnataka's coastal district of Bhatkal to other parts of the country in 2004.

His first brush with terror is believed to have started from Vitthalamakki and Hakkalamane in North Karnataka from where bombs were supplied to specialised IM training camps spread across the country.
Yasin was detained in Kolkata and Mumbai from where he managed to get released by concealing his identity.
He was caught on CCTV just before the German bakery blast in Pune in 2010 and later at blasts at Cyberabad's Dilkhush Nagar earlier this year. Earlier, he managed to flee less than an hour before police raided the IM safehouse in the Bhadra forests outside Chikmagalur in October, 2008.