After the 26/11 mayhem at Mumbai's iconic Taj hotel and the Oberoi-Trident, Pakistan-based terror outfits are now plotting at the country's economic well-being yet again by targeting the HDFC Bank's premises and Hotel Diplomat in south Mumbai.
As per the Intelligence Bureau's (IB) July 8 alert forwarded to the city authorities, at least seven targets have been shortlisted by the terror outfit — Lashkar-e-Taiba being the suspect yet again — for a possible strike this monsoon.
Among these, sources in the security establishment informed ET, are the HDFC Bank branch in Fort area; Hotel Diplomat at Apollo Bunder, next to which stands the Taj Mahal Hotel that was under terror siege for three days during 26/11; besides crowded places like the Andheri and Churchgate railway stations.
The IB alert is based on the recovery of photographs of the seven probable attack sites from a terrorist arrested recently in Jammu and Kashmir.
The photographs, most of which were downloaded and at least two clicked, include that of the HDFC Bank branch in Fort area of Mumbai, which is in close proximity to the Victorian-style Mumbai High Court building, and Hotel Diplomat, a leading south Mumbai hotel that plays host to corporate clients, both domestic and foreign, as well as tourists from all parts of the world.
The proximity of both the Fort area as well as Hotel Diplomat to the shoreline has raised suspicions that the LeT terrorists may yet again take the sea route to access the two attack sites.
The alert, which also mentions time coordinates, has led the Mumbai police to step up police presence and bandobast around the likely targets, including the bank and the hotel in question. This includes random checks by bomb squads and sniffer dogs, police patrolling and sensitizing of the private security firms engaged in guarding the threatened buildings to tighten access control.
Apart from an increase in proximate security, vigil along the coastline has been stepped up. The Coast Guard has deployed its vessels to intercept any unidentified/suspicious ships or boats, which may try to take advantage of bad weather and stormy seas to sneak in.
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