Intelligence agencies have come to know that five of the seven IS operatives, who were arrested by the National Investigation Agency from Kerala and Tamil Nadu a week ago, had camped in Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu for four days and had carried out an extensive reconnaissance mission in the hill station before they were nabbed.
One of the targets of the IS module was the Chabad House at Vattakanal village in Kodaikanal, highly placed sources said.
Two Kerala high court judges and a leading RSS leader in Kerala were also on their hit list, according to earlier reports.
A senior official in Tamil Nadu police said, "We have received intelligence alerts in the past about possible attacks on foreigners in Kodaikanal. But, this is the first time that we have come across information on specific reconnaissance missions."
Five people - Manseed alias Omar Al-Hindi, 30, a resident of Kannur, Abu Basheer alias Rashid, 29, from Coimbatore, Swalih Mohammed T alias Yousuf, 26, from Thrissur, Safwan P, 30, from Mallapuram, Jasim NK, 25, and Ramshad Nageelan Kandiyil alias Aaamu, 24, from Kozhikode - were arrested from Kerala on October 2.
Subhani Moideen alias Abu Meer was arrested from Kadayanallur in Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu a day later.
The arrests have also reiterated the close connection between extremist elements in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. "We have credible information that the extremists in the two states are working in tandem," said an official.
This link was earlier established during the Coimbatore blasts in 1998. "Apart from an exchange of explosives, one of the key accused in the Coimbatore bomb blast was hiding in Kozhikode and other parts of northern Kerala for years," he said.
Investigators had also come across a lot of footprints of Bangalore blast accused Thadiyantavide Nazeer alias Umer Haji and his accomplices in Coimbatore. Nazeer, considered the southern India commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba, was arrested from Meghalaya in December 2009.
The state police are awaiting further inputs from NIA to map the movement of the IS module in other parts of the state and profile the areas they had planned to target. They had obviously established contacts in Coimbatore because one of the arrested hails from that city.
One of the targets of the IS module was the Chabad House at Vattakanal village in Kodaikanal, highly placed sources said.
Two Kerala high court judges and a leading RSS leader in Kerala were also on their hit list, according to earlier reports.
A senior official in Tamil Nadu police said, "We have received intelligence alerts in the past about possible attacks on foreigners in Kodaikanal. But, this is the first time that we have come across information on specific reconnaissance missions."
Five people - Manseed alias Omar Al-Hindi, 30, a resident of Kannur, Abu Basheer alias Rashid, 29, from Coimbatore, Swalih Mohammed T alias Yousuf, 26, from Thrissur, Safwan P, 30, from Mallapuram, Jasim NK, 25, and Ramshad Nageelan Kandiyil alias Aaamu, 24, from Kozhikode - were arrested from Kerala on October 2.
Subhani Moideen alias Abu Meer was arrested from Kadayanallur in Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu a day later.
The arrests have also reiterated the close connection between extremist elements in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. "We have credible information that the extremists in the two states are working in tandem," said an official.
This link was earlier established during the Coimbatore blasts in 1998. "Apart from an exchange of explosives, one of the key accused in the Coimbatore bomb blast was hiding in Kozhikode and other parts of northern Kerala for years," he said.
Investigators had also come across a lot of footprints of Bangalore blast accused Thadiyantavide Nazeer alias Umer Haji and his accomplices in Coimbatore. Nazeer, considered the southern India commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba, was arrested from Meghalaya in December 2009.
The state police are awaiting further inputs from NIA to map the movement of the IS module in other parts of the state and profile the areas they had planned to target. They had obviously established contacts in Coimbatore because one of the arrested hails from that city.