Author: Rahul Tripathi
Publication: The Times of India
Date: June 6, 2009
Interrogation of 50-year-old Mohammad Umer
Madani, arrested by the special cell of the Delhi police on Thursday, has
revealed that he, along with Mohammad Usman -head of the Nepal operations
- has recruited more than 30 terrorists from India and Nepal and sent them
for training to Pakistan over the past 10 years.
Madani, who belongs to Madhubani in Bihar, had handpicked people, particularly
from Jharkhand, and sent them for training. The investigators are puzzled
why Madani was recruiting people from Jharkhand and said they would question
him on the names and whereabouts of the recruited militants.
The police have so far identified four persons
who were recruited by Madani. One of them, Kamal Ansari, was arrested by the
Mumbai police in 2006 for his alleged involvement in local train blasts. Three
more militants were arrested by the special cell of Delhi Police in 2004 and
explosives and surgical equipment were seized from them. "Madani, along
with his chief, Saifullah, has launched a surgical equipment firm in Nepal
with the name of Khan Traders and three of their recruits were caught while
trying to ship explosives along with the surgical equipment,'' added a cop.
A madarsa teacher, Madani received his initial education from a madarsa in
Varanasi where his father, Shams Ul-Haq, was also a teacher. His father in
1983 shifted base to Nepal where he opened several madarsas. In 1996-97, Madani
- who can speak Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, English, Bengali and Nepali - was initiated
into "jehadi activities'' after he was motivated by two Markaz-Dawa-Wal-Irshad
members. Madani's brother, Hafiz Mohd Zubair (40), is also in LeT and operates
from Qatar. "On their instructions, he visited Lahore in 1997. The next
year he took Daura-e-Aam and Daura-e-Khas training in LeT camps. During this
visit, he was called by top leaders of JuD and LeT and assigned the task of
setting up a strong base in Nepal for easy infiltration into India,'' said
ACP Sanjeev Yadav.
"He was also assigned the task of recruiting
youths from India and Nepal for terror activities. In 2000, when he visited
Pakistan, he was asked to pump in terror funds into India through Nepal. Madani
then allegedly came in contact with Saifullah who came to Nepal and opened
several accounts in banks across the country to facilitate flow of money from
Pakistan to Nepal. "He was also asked to provide logistical support to
terrorists staying in Nepal before they could be sent to India to carry out
strikes,'' said a police officer. Madani had opened a travel company in Kathmandu
and a surgical equipment shop too to deflect attention from their activities.
