Image Source: India TV
A joint operation involving the Intelligence Bureau, special police unit from Coimbatore, and Andhra Pradesh police successfully located and apprehended Abubacker Siddique, a fugitive linked to the 1998 Coimbatore bombings, on 30 June 2025 in the Annamayya district near Kadapa.
Siddique, aged 60 and described as a bomb-making expert with connections to the banned extremist group Al Ummah, had remained in hiding since the blasts.
தமிழ்நாடு காவல் துறை
30 ஆண்டுகளாக தலைமறைவாக இருந்த தீவிரவாதிகள் தமிழ்நாடு காவல் துறையினரால் கைது#CMMKSTALIN | #DyCMUdhay | #TNDIPR |@CMOTamilnadu @mkstalin@mp_saminathan @tnpoliceoffl pic.twitter.com/RtRP9Mn9Zr— TN DIPR (@TNDIPRNEWS) July 1, 2025
Alongside him, another fugitive—identified as Mohammed Ali (also known as Yunus or Mansoor)—was arrested. Both men were under surveillance for years, with a reward of ₹5 lakh posted for Siddique’s apprehension.
Upon his arrest, Siddique claimed mistaken identity, but officials confirmed his identity using decades-old photographs and took him into custody for questioning by the Anti-Terror Squad.
Siddique is accused of orchestrating multiple high-profile terror incidents dating from the mid-1990s onward, including the 1995 blasts at the Hindu Munnani office in Chennai’s Chintadripet area, the Nagore parcel bomb that killed a man named Thangam, the serial bombings across southern India in 1999, and an attempted pipe bomb targeting L.K. Advani’s convoy in Madurai.
Known as a master bomb-maker, he is alleged to have trained several Al Ummah operatives.
The arrest marks a major breakthrough in long-standing counterterrorism efforts. Authorities expect that Siddique’s capture will assist ongoing investigations into terrorist activities across Tamil Nadu and neighboring regions. Both Siddique and Ali were presented before a Chennai court on July 1 and remanded to judicial custody.
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