Author: Bhupen Patel
Publication: Mumbai Mirror
Date: January 9, 2006
URL: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/nmirror/mmpaper.asp?sectid=1&articleid=1820062312530182006231016671
Arrested militants tell police a 'respectable
and well-connected man in Mumbai' was supposed to give them orders to carry
out terror acts
Mumbai police are hunting for a "respectable
and well-connected" patron of the Lashkar-e-Taiba in the city after the
three LeT militants arrested from Nagpada revealed that this mystery man was
supposed to give them instructions on carrying out subversive activities.
The three militants have told the Anti-Terrorist
Squad (ATS) that their bosses in Kashmir told them an "izzatdar aadmi"
(respectable man) in Mumbai, who was also "acche jaankaari wala"
(well-connected and well-informed), would get in touch with them once they
reached the city and tell them what they were supposed to do.
The militants, however, have told the ATS
they do not know the man's identity.
An ATS official who is on the team interrogating
the militants said it was possible they had no clue. "Terrorist attacks
are carried out by various small modules instead of one big team. One module
generally does not know what the other is up to or even who its members are,"
the official, who did not wish to be named, said.
However, ATS officials said the arrest of
this man could reveal all of LeT's terror plans in the city.
At the time of their arrest, the three - Qurshid
Ahmed alias Lala (29), Arshad Ghulam Ahmed Hussain Badru (27) and Mohammed
Ramzan Abdul Kazi (50) -- were found in possession of detonators, timers and
a .32 bore foreign-made revolver.
ATS officials have also seized from them a
telephone diary which contains some names and numbers written in Urdu. "We
will translate this and make inquiries," ATS officials said.
The officials said two of the three militants
had visited Mumbai twice in the past and had confessed that money for carrying
out terror acts was routed through Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Secunderabad.
An ATS official said that in two days of interrogation,
the militants had broken down several times. However, their regret was not
their association with a terrorist outfit but their failure to carry out their
mission, the official said.
