Investigation into the Mumbai terror attacks is making headway with the investigating agencies picking up more links to Pakistan.
Ajmal Kasab, the man who the investigating agencies have in their custody, said during his interrogation that they had received help from Pakistan authorities to cross into India.
Kasab, who is being interrogated at an undisclosed location, told interrogators that he along with nine others had boarded a ship called the Al-Hussaini in Karachi on November 20 and had sailed for nearly two days. They then got into the Kuber and sailed on Pakistan waters for nearly two days before entering Mumbai.
An investigating officer told rediff.com that based on this confession they are trying to piece the evidence together in order to build up a strong case.
The officer also said that Kasab further confessed that none from the Pakistan Navy even stopped them as they were sailing into Mumbai.
ATS sources said Kasab is providing a lot of information regarding the operation and also about a definite Pakistan link to the entire 26/11 operation.
More arrests: Two more persons have been picked up in connection with the same case. Mukthar Ahmed was held in New Delhi and Tausif Rehman have been arrested in West Bengal by the Special Task Force.
The police are investigating the role played by both these men in the supply of SIM cards which were used by terrorists who carried out the Mumbai terror attack.
The police said they had definite information that the attacks at Mumbai were carried out with the help of local modules from West Bengal and New Delhi. While the West Bengal link has begun to surface, operations are still on to hunt down men who belong to the modules in New Delhi, the police said.
The Ansari link: For the Mumbai police who are investigating the case, the Fahim Ansari link would prove crucial to their case. ATS sources say that they would interrogate Ansari to find out about the details he had about the 26/11attacks.
Ansari, arrested in connection with the Rampur CRPF attack case in February 2008, had told interrogators specifically that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba had plans of carrying out attacks in Mumbai. He had said that they had planned to attack the Taj Mahal hotel, Oberoi and also the Bombay Stock Exchange.
While Ansari's confessions will be extremely crucial, the Mumbai police have also sought details about a man called, Mohammad Ghouse who had trained along with Kasab.
Ghouse is in custody of the Karnataka police. Ghouse who is an LeT operative was picked up while trying to carry out a series of attacks in Goa. According to investigating agencies, Ghouse could provide vital details about the network of the LeT and how they had planned on carrying out the Mumbai attack.
Fake ID cards: The Mumbai police have also picked up some clues regarding the man who could have made the fake ID cards for Ajmal Kasab. The Bangalore police has taken into custody a man by the name Shafiulla whose primary job is to make fake ID cards. The Bangalore police said Shafiulla who runs a studio in the outskirts of Bangalore used to copy the details of marks cards and driving licences of his customers and would later forge the documents and sell it to different people. Several of his fake certificates have fallen into the hands of anti-social elements, the police also said.