Overview

• Abu Bakar Siddique alias Amanullah and Mohammed Ali alias Mansoor were taken into custody on July 1 in Rayachoti by Tamil Nadu ATS and Andhra Pradesh Police after evading arrest since 1999 under false identities
• Officials seized enough explosives and components for 50–60 improvised explosive devices, including ammonium nitrate mixtures, slurry explosives, timers, ball bearings, walkie-talkies and a defused 20 kilogram PETN suitcase bomb
• Sheikh Sair Banu and Sheikh Shameem, the suspects’ wives, were arrested during the raids and have been remanded to judicial custody as authorities probe their potential role
• Forensic teams are analyzing the recovered materials and interrogating suspects to chart procurement channels and identify local collaborators who supported the cell’s decades-long concealment
• Investigators have reopened inquiries into multiple South India bombings from the late 1990s through 2013, including a Malleshwaram blast in Bengaluru, to confirm the duo’s historical attack links