Author: Dharmesh Thakkar
Publication: Mid-Day
Date: September 29, 2001
An illegal Bangladeshi immigrant
and suspected accomplice of the hijackers of the 1999 Indian Airlines flight
IC-814 was nabbed by the Thane crime branch police yesterday night.
Ayub Mohammed Nisar alias Mohammed
Ayub Yunus alias Mohammed Fayyaz, 30, was arrested from Mumbra for also
having suspected links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.
According to Thane police crime
branch officials, Ayub Issar, a resident of Dharmapur, Chhatgram district
of Bangladesh, had entered India on a tourist visa for a pilgrimage to
Ajmer.
"His visa expired in December 2000.
He had been hiding in Mumbra ever since. A forged driving licence and some
incriminating documents were seized from him," said Inspector Datta Ghule,
who' led the operation.
Ayub was a lavish spender and a
regular at ladies bars. "Interrogation revealed that he got funding through
hawala channels. He made regular ISD calls to the US, Karachi, UAE and
Bangladesh. Scrutiny of the calls records will prove his foreign links,"
said Sub Inspector Hitendra Vichare.
Regional Transport Office agents
Imran Amanullah Khan and Praful Gandhi have been arrested for providing
the forged driving licence to Yunus.