Three suspected activists of outlawed Student Islamic Movement of India were picked up by a team of Corps of Detectives from Bengaluru [Images] with the help of local police in different places in the city on Sunday night.

The detention comes in the wake of the arrest of four suspected terrorists in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts last week in a joint effort by Mumbai and local police following the blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad.

The three SIMI [Images] activists had received calls on their cell phones from two of the four arrested, Naushad and Ahmed Bawa.

Official sources said the special investigating team of the CoD detained the three persons in localities like Jilanabad, Mehaboobnagar and Moninapur in the city.

The arrests followed the interrogation of the four persons arrested in the coastal districts as they had maintained constant contact with the three SIMI activists belonging to the city.

The three were immediately taken to the state capital for further questioning, sources said.

Gulbarga and Bidar cities in North Karnataka, have earned a dubious distinction of being terror hideouts because of their religious sensitivity and proximity to Hyderabad and Mumbai.

A suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba militant, Abdul Rehman was arrested in the city in March. During interrogation, he confessed that he was part of the LeT plan to trigger blasts in vital installations in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

In other places like Davangere, Hubli and Belgaum, police had so far arrested over two dozen suspected SIMI activists since January this year.