Indian police arrest suspected militants

NEW DELHI, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Indian police arrested three militants Friday in the northern city of Lucknow who they say wanted to abduct the son of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Police said they arrested three Pakistan nationals of the outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed; they said the three had planned to kidnap Rahul Gandhi, a lawmaker of the ruling Congress Party and son of the late Indian premier and his wife, Sonia Gandhi, who now heads the Congress Party.

"The arrested persons -- identified as Mohammad Abid alias Faate, Usuf alias Faisal and Mirza Rashid Baig -- had all been trained in Pakistan," said Vikram Singh, director general of police of Uttar Pradesh state.

He said the three had been trained to kidnap a leading Uttar Pradesh-based politician to exert pressure on the government to release 42 convicted terrorists.

Two AK-47 rifles and four magazines, 120 cartridges of AK-47, three Chinese pistols, 101 live and 15 used cartridges of 30 bore, 4 kilograms of RDX, five detonators and 16 Chinese grenades were recovered from their possession, Singh said.

The police said the men were trained in Pakistan for six months.