Author: Gyan Prakash
Publication: The Times of India
Date: June 23, 2001
A joint police team of Intelligence
Bureau (IB) and special cell of the Delhi police picked up international
terrorist Osama bin Laden's Patna connection, Mohammad Arshad alias Ladoo
Milan, from his residence in Naya Tola under Phulwarisharif police station
on Thursday morning.
Soon after his arrest, Arshad was
taken to Delhi for interrogation. Disclosures by Laden's confidants, including
Sudanese national Hawash and his Bihar associate Pirbaba, that Arshad,
too, was part of their "grandiose plan" to blow up U.S. embassy led to
the arrest of Arshad, sources said.
According to them, Arshad, son of
one Mohammad Sah, in order to camouflage his "real operations", used to
drive autorickshaw carrying passengers from Phulwari to Patna and vice
versa. The arrest of Arshad was kept a closely guarded secret so much so
that the local police was not even informed why their "catch" (Arshad)
was being taken to Delhi.
The Chanakyapuri police of Delhi
has instituted a case against Hawash, his Indian accomplices, who include
Shamim Sarwar, and Pirbaba for planning to orchestrate attacks on the U.S.
embassies in Delhi and Dhaka sometime in August. Sources further said that
as soon as the "sinister design" of Laden was unravelled by the Delhi police
following the arrest of Hawash and Shamim Sarwar, the police were on the,
look out for Arshad following their disclosure that he, too, was part of
the "greater conspiracy". The police hope that interrogation of Arashad
would provide them more clues and leads on their plan to blow up the embassies.
The special cell of the Delhi police
are also on the look out for a Yemenese national Al Safani. Hawash had
reportedly confessed to the police that he had come in contact with Safani
sometime in February this year and also mentioned that Safani was instrumental
in triggering the blast in U.S. embassy in Kenya and Tanzania on August
7, 1998, which had left over 200 people dead. Apart from this, Safani was
also reportedly involved in blowing up of a U.S. Navy ship while it was
anchored along the shore of Aden in Yemen.
The arrests of Pirbaba and Arshad
have confirmed that Laden has established his contacts in Bihar as well.
Strategically, Bihar suits Laden for carrying out his operations because
of the fact that it borders Nepal and is close to Bangladesh. Sources further
said that Laden has established a network of 200 people in India and Bangladesh
and over two dozen persons are considered to Constitute the core group
of dedicated people and sympathisers in the two countries.
Whether Arshad was part of the core
group would be established once the Delhi police and IB inter-rogate him
jointly in Delhi, sources added.
