Officials from the Tamil Nadu Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) have apprehended two fugitives suspected of terrorism in Annamayya district, Andhra Pradesh. Acting on intelligence reports, a specialized team from the Tamil Nadu ATS successfully captured Abubakar Siddiqui and his close associate Mohammad Ali, also known as Yunus/Mansoor, from their hideout.

The police announced on Tuesday that Siddiqui, who was involved in an attempted pipe bomb attack during a rally led by former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani in Madurai, has been arrested after 30 years. Authorities revealed that Siddiqui was linked to several bomb blasts across South India and had been on the run for decades. A reward of five lakh rupees was previously offered for information leading to his capture.

In a statement, the police confirmed that alongside the 60-year-old Siddiqui, another fugitive, Mohammad Ali from Tirunelveli, was also taken into custody. The statement highlighted that both individuals were involved in multiple bombings and communal killings, successfully evading law enforcement for three decades. Their arrest was made possible through a tip-off and assistance from central intelligence agencies that have been monitoring these terrorists for an extended period.

Siddiqui is implicated in several notorious terrorist incidents, including a bomb blast at the Hindu Munnani office in Chintadripet in 1995, the parcel bomb murder of Hindu nationalist activist T. Muthukrishnan in Nagaur the same year, and bombings at the Chennai Police Commissioner's office in Egmore, as well as in Tiruchirappalli, Coimbatore, and six other locations in Kerala in 1999.