FBI hands over crucial evidence on 26/11

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has handed over all the crucial evidence linking the perpetrators of Mumbai terror attacks to Pakistan to a Mumbai police team in Washington.

The three-member team headed by Deputy Inspector General of Deven Bharti handed over a Letters Rogatory issued by a Mumbai court and vetted by the Ministry of External Affairs to the US Department of Justice in Washington. The FBI took the details of Voice over Internet Protocol services, used by the terrorists of Lashkar-e-Tayiba, with their masters in the port city of Karachi.

The US investigating agency's help had been sought in sharing the proofs like call details made through VoIP and from the satellite phone, besides getting the documents related to the Global Positioning System used by the terrorists while sailing from Karachi. The forensic examination of the bullets used by the terrorists in Mumbai was also a part of the evidence gathered from FBI by the Mumbai police.

The evidence from FBI is expected to make the case water-tight as this kind of proof would further nail Pakistan's claims that the conspiracy behind 26/11 was not hatched in that country alone. India and the United States share a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty which came into effect on December 3, 2005.

The probe into Mumbai terror attack revealed that the payment for VoIP service was made from Karachi. The VoIP number brought from Orlando, Florida in the US was being used by the 10 terrorists involved in the Mumbai attack to remain in touch with their handlers in Pakistan, including Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi, a Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative.