Author: Dippy Vankani
Publication: Mumbai Mirror
Date: May 9, 2006
URL: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/nmirror/mmpaper.asp?sectid=1&articleid=582006233130390582006232151843
A Pak-trained terrorist reveals there are
10 LeT sleeper cells in Mumbai awaiting instructions to strike
The man Mushiruddin Salauddin Siddiqui, 37,
trained in handling explosives at a terrorist camp near Karachi in Pakistan,
has told Mumbai police there are at least 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba sleeper cells
in Mumbai, each comprising 10-12 members, awaiting an opportunity to strike.
Joint Commissioner, ATS, K P Raghuvanshi,
on Monday confirmed he has information on these sleeper cells but assured
that they would be neutralised soon. "They are in our focus. We will
get them. At this stage I cannot reveal our plans or provide you any figures,"
he said.
However, a senior ATS officer, who did not
wish to be named, said there are at least 100 trained militants hiding in
Mumbai awaiting orders from their masters across the border.
He said Siddiqui, who was nabbed at the Lokmanya
Tilak Terminus, Kurla, on January 30 this year carrying 950 gram of explosives,
was the first to reveal the depth of the LeT network in Mumbai.
January 30, however, wasn't Siddiqui's first
brush with the Mumbai police. He was detained in 2003 in the aftermath of
the Mulund train blast that left 10 people dead and over 70 injured. What
had made the cops suspicious then was that a day before the blast, on March
12, 2003, Siddiqui was in Dubai and the next day he flew to Karachi. But the
police failed to link him to the blast and Siddiqui was let off after questioning.
But after his arrest in January this year
the cops laid their hands on his two passports -- one issued by the Worli
office in 1991 and the other in Thane in 1995 --and thus began unravelling
his involvement with the LeT's global web of terrorism.
Siddiqui has since told his interrogators
that he received arms and explosives training for 21 days in a camp near Karachi
before returning to Mumbai via Nepal.
He has revealed that Shami Ahmed Shah, a resident
of Jogeshwari, was with him at the the camp. Shah, he said, later became an
LeT commander and was arrested in Gulbarga in Karnataka on March 30 this year
with two hand-grenades and a gun.
Siddiqui said the 21-day module was the most
popular at the camp. He said there were 50-60 trainees in each batch, but
they were not allowed to interact with each other. So, he said, you could
be together with a bunch of guys for 21 days, but know nothing about which
country were they from or which language they spoke
Siddiqui said they were trained in handling
of weapons and explosives and were taught how to operate computers, including
browsing the Net and sending e-mails.
They were instructed, he said, to not get
involved in any petty crimes and do everything possible to keep their names
out of police records. He said the bosses contacted them only through an e-mail
ID provided at the camp.
Siddiqui said three boys -- Ashfaq, Taj and
Bada Imran -- all from Jogeshwari had tried to cross the border into Pakistan
in January this year. Their attempt was foiled by the Indian Army. Ashfaq
went to Gulbarga, Bada Imran returned to his native place in Uttar Pradesh
and Taj came back to Mumbai.
Bada Imran was arrested from his native village
in the second week of April and is now in the Jammu and Kashmir police's custody.
Ashfaq and Shah, Siddiqui said, were given
the task of destroying the power grid line in Andhra Pradesh, but before they
could execute their operation they were arrested on March 30.
He said Taj along with one Chhotta Imran,
also from Jogeshwari, went to Pakistan via Bangladesh in February this year.
They are presently training at the terrorist camp near Karachi.
Siddiqui said he sent three boys -- Mohammed,
Ali and Farooq -- residents of Govandi and Trombay, to Pakistan via Srinagar
for training this year.
An ATS officer said Mohammed, Ali and Farooq
have been identified and that they would be caught as soon as they enter India.
The ATS, meanwhile, is looking for one Shakir,
a resident of Kanpur, who supplied the ammonium chlorate-sulphide mixture
found on the person of Siddiqui when he was arrested in Kurla.
The Jogeshwari link
In December 1999, when IC814 of Indian Airlines
was hijacked, the Crime Branch, which kept watch on the movements of Abdul
Latif Adam Momin, believed to be a Harkat-ul-Mujahideen supporter, chanced
upon a telephone call made by him to Karachi. Momin and Yusuf Nepali, both
from Jogeshwari were picked up by city police.
