Author: Debashish Panigrahi
Publication: Afternoon Despatch
& Courier
Date: October 1, 2001
Now the truth can be told. Sonic
of the hijackers responsible for the attacks on US of September 11, are
Mumbai's "Most Wanted Criminals". At least three of them are wanted for
the hijacking of Indian Airlines' Flight IC-184 to Kandahar in December
1999.
Abdul Rahim Shaikh, Shahid Akhtar
Sayed and Sunny Ahmed Kazi are the same Pakistani Harkat-Ul-Ansar terrorists
who crashed American jets on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon
in Washington.
The January 16, 2000, issue of Sunday
Afternoon carries their photographs and names them as the prime accused
in the IA hijacking. Now the FBI has identified them among the suicide
bombers of September 11, and released their photographs to the world.
The trio, who hijacked the Kathmandu-Lucknow
IA Right to Kandahar and exchanged the passengers' lives for the release
of detained terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar, then switched allegiance to
Jaish-E-Mohammad. This terrorist outfit was founded by Azhar himself.
The Mumbai police, who had first
detected the trio's involvement in the hijacking, almost nabbed them in
raids on terrorist hideouts in Behram Bang, Raj Nagar in Jogeshwari, and
Pathan Wadi in Malad. Four other suspects were arrested, but Abdul, Shahid
and Sunny managed to escape. However, using the photographs on their passports,
the Mumbai police flashed a red corner notice through Interpol to all policing
agencies of the world warning them of the deadly threesome.
And this is where the US authorities
slipped up. The terrorists not only gained entry to that country, but they
stayed there for over six months, underwent flight training, and then carried
out their terrible mission on September 11. The American police failed
to cheek on the mens' identities.
