The Mumbai crime branch has picked up for questioning, Abdul Rafe, a close aide of suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative Abu Jundal, in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Rafe was held three days ago and taken to Mumbai for questioning after Jundal told his interrogators that he had told the Beed resident of the plan to attack Mumbai when he was in Saudi-Arabia.
Police sources said Rafe was in the Gulf between 2005 and 2008, the period during which he allegedly came into contact with Ansari, one of the handlers of Pakistani terrorists who attacked Mumbai in November 2008.
During interrogation, Mumbai police got to know that Rafe, from Georai taluka in Beed district who had shifted to Beed, was in touch with Abu Jundal.
After he returned from the Gulf in 2008, Rafe set up a stationery shop in Barshi Naka area of Beed. Jundal was arrested by the Delhi police for his involvement in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Rafe is a prime evidence of the 26/11 attack plot as he was among those who knew of the attack even before it happened, police sources in Beed said.
However, Rafe alias Mohoomad Farukh Rafe, has denied involvement in the 26/11 conspiracy, they added.
Rafe worked as helper to a receptionist at a Hotel in Saudi-Arabia during 2009 to 2011 when he met Ansari.