NEWS

The LeT operative FBI wants in Pakistan

By Vicky Nanjappa
February 24, 2009 14:23 IST

The Federal Bureau of Investigation team, which has sought access to all the 26/11 accused arrested by Pakistan, will try to cull more information about a key Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative called Yusuf Muzzamil.

Muzzamil's role in the terror attack in Mumbai last November was revealed by Fahim Ansari, Sabahuddin, and Ajmal Kasab, sources in the Intelligence Bureau told rediff.com.

While Ansari is the prime accused in the attack on the Central Reserve Police Force camp in Rampur in Uttar Pradesh, Sabahuddin is the chief of the LeT's Nepal unit and Kasab is the lone terrorist arrested during the terror siege on Mumbai.

They described Muzzamil as a being extremely tech-savvy, adding that he had pointed out possible terror targets using Google Earth, supported by reconnaissance conducted by Ansari.

Kasab told interrogators that he had been reporting to Muzzamil during his training.

According to IB sources, Muzzamil emerged as a key operative for the LeT after the death of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami operative Shahid Bilal, one of India's most wanted fugitives.

Threatened by Bilal's growing clout, Muzzamil decided to eliminate him, claim IB sources.

The FBI team in Pakistan has enough proof to substantiate their allegations against Muzzamil, and they will interrogate the 26/11 accused held there to elicit more information, say sources.

IB officials believe that Muzzamil is the terrorist in charge of LeT operations in India. Transcripts from a satellite phone found on the M V Kuber, the fishing trawler hijacked by the terrorists to travel to Mumbai, indicates that he was constantly in touch with the ten men.

Vicky Nanjappa

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