Key accused- like others before him- was recruited in the emirate
It's not jus! Indian tourists who head for Dubai, Indian terrorists do too.
Electrician Sayed Mohammed Hanif, key accused for Black Monday, is just the latest in the list of suspects-arrested after the six Mumbai bombings since December 2002-recruited and indoctrinated in the emirate. Sayyed Khwaja Yunus. a computer engineer , allegedly involved in the first blast, the bombing of a bus in Ghatkoparon December 2, 2002, was the first to visit Dubai last year. Khwaja was arrested back home and hasn't been seen since an attempted escape from custody in January 2003.
Mohammed Altai Ismail. accused of supplying explosives and funds for the Ghatkoparbomb, followed Khwaja there, but was deported from Dubai on January 27, 2003.
Imran Rehman Khan, another accused in the (Ghatkopar bombing, had been deported earlier and was initiated into terrorism in Dubai, allegedly by an operative of the Pakistani Lashkar-e Toiba. "The international community should bring pressure on the Dubai government to prevent the breeding ol terrorists on their land," said Joint ('ommissioner of Police (Crime) Dr. Satyapal Singh.
Could their be Al Qaeda links'.'There's no proof, but police sources believe some umbrella or ganisation is at work.
The pieces to the Dubai puzzle have been gradually falling into place since the 1999 serial bombings that rocked Mumbai. Assistant Commissioner of Police Suresh Walishetty-investigating officer in 1993-says Dubai has acquired notoriety as a recruiting centre for terrorist outfits working in India. "For the masterminds based there it is like starting a new business after the old one folded up," said Walishetty. "People are brainwashed during regular visit to religious places."
Crime Branch sleuths says many suspects have met some cleric in Dubai before being converted into Islamic zealots.
Altaf was "brainwashed" by one Essak (a resident of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh) in Dubai, a police source said, and the duo met regularly at Nasir Masjid in the emirate.
Much about the shadowy Essak remains unknown to police but they say Altaf (a native of Aurangabad) worked at a computer firm on Sheikh Zahid Road in downtown Dubai.
Hanif was introduced to one Nasir
during his time in Dubai. Nasir was supposedly an operative of the Muslim
Defence Force, an Indian group linked to the Lashkar through Abu Hamza,
a Pakistani and one of still at large after being named for the Ghatkopar
bombing. "We are not ruling out the possibility that Lashkar-Toiba operatives
are behind the (August 25, 2003) blasts," said Dr Singh.