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Dangerous game Police claim to thwart kidnap of Indian cricket starsPosted: Tuesday February 19, 2002 2:26 PMNEW DELHI, India (AP) -- Police on Tuesday said that they have arrested a Pakistani national who was plotting to kidnap Indian cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar and national captain Saurav Ganguly. Tariq Ahmad was arrested along with two of his aides while boarding a train from New Delhi to the northern Indian city of Agra on Jan. 30, the United News of India quoted New Delhi police chief Ajai Raj Sharma as saying. Police could not be reached to independently confirm the report. Sharma said Ahmad has claimed to be working on behalf of Dubai-based crime boss Aftab Ansari, the prime suspect in a Jan 22 attack on the American Cultural Center in Calcutta city. Ansari, who is now in the custody of Indian authorities after he was extradited by the United Arab Emirates, had also confirmed the abduction plan during questioning, the news agency reported. Tendulkar and Ganguly have been traveling under tight security since last month, when intelligence reports said they could be kidnapped by Islamic militants. Ahmad had revealed to police that he wanted to kidnap the cricket stars to demand the release of Mohammed Amir Khan -- a member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e Tayyaba group -- who is now jailed in India, Sharma said. Lashkar is among more than a dozen Islamic groups, which have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with mostly Muslim Pakistan. The 12-year insurgency in India's only Muslim-majority state has killed at least 30,000 people, according to government estimates. Human rights groups say the number is twice that.
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