Three suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists who were planning to strike in the city and the National Capital Region were arrested late Tuesday night.
Sources said 9 others have been detained in raids in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in which some IEDs were also recovered.
The Delhi Police on Wednesday confirmed only 3 arrests, but said some more have been detained.
Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed was suspected to have carried out the January attack at the Pathankot Air Force base.
The arrested suspects – Mohammad Sajid, Sameer Ahmad and Shakir Ansari – were allegedly assembling and storing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at their hideout in east Delhi’s New Mustafabad.
On Wednesday, they were produced in court which remanded them to police custody till May 14. “The recovered IEDs were to be used for attacks at sensitive locations in Delhi and NCR,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah.
In several raids, police recovered a live IED, a damaged IED and raw material used for assembling more IEDs, along with other incriminating articles.
The recovered material was inspected and secured by the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad of the Delhi Police and experts from the CBI’s Central Forensic Science Laboratory.
Sources said Sajid, Ahmad and Ansari are among 12 suspects held in Delhi- NCR and Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district.