<b>Mumbai Blasts:</b> Detained youths not involved

Three of the 11 detained Muslim youths who hailed from Maharashtra have admitted to their links with the Student's Islamic Movement Of India (SIMI) but were not associated with the recent Mumbai blasts, police said.

The youths who were apprehended from a mosque in Dhalai district of Tripura on July 13 had no link with the Mumbai blasts because they had entered Tripura on June 23 last, the police said.

A report sent by the Dhalai district police to the police headquarters here said during interrogation by a team of anti-terrorist squad (ATS) of Mumbai and Tripura police yesterday, the youths said they had ties with the SIMI but had snapped the link after the outfit was banned in 2001.

A police official said, "We will further investigate if they are maintaining links with the SIMI even after the outfit was banned".

The youths were apprehended from a mosque located at the border village of Sonarai in Dhalai district after the serial blasts in Mumbai and Srinagar on July 11.

The youths who had identified themselves as religious activists were detained for being involved in suspicious activities.

Of the eleven one is an electronic engineer who studied in Texas, another a textile engineer and yet another is a mechanical engineer.

A two-member team of the Anti-Terrorist squad of the Mumbai police had arrived here on Monday to interrogate the youths who hailed from Mumbra town in Thane district.