Seven pistols, 45 live cartridges, a bunch of walkie-talkies, and some daggers were seized from the terror suspects, the police officer said. A huge consignment of explosives were also retrieved from their possession.

"The Central Crime Branch has succeeded in busting the anti-social forces and foiled their nefarious designs. They were arrested after raiding a place under Hebbal police station limits," Dayananda told reporters. The suspects were radicalised by T Nazeer, who is an accused in the 2008 Bengaluru serial bomb blasts case, and another accused living abroad.

The suspects are accused of murder, robbery, smuggling of red sanders and other crimes. They were in touch with the other terror accused who was in jail.?Nazeer has links with Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, the police commissioner said. He added that Nazeer's gang members were planning on carrying out "destructive activities".

The five suspects were caught near a place of worship in Kanakanagar area of Sultanpalya locality in the city while planning a major conspiracy, sources said. Another kingpin, who is holed up abroad, was accused of killing his business rival Noor Ahmed in 2017, the police officer said. In that case, 21 people were arrested, Dayananda said. The five suspects were among the 21 persons arrested in connection with that murder case, sources said.