Cops link 'LeT boss' to arms haul suspects

Mateen Hafeez / TNN / Jul 31, 2006, 00:29 IST

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Faisal Shaikh, has been accused by the cops of being the Lashkar-e-Taiba commander for western India.

Cops link 'LeT boss' to arms haul suspects

MUMBAI: The police have found a link between suspects in the recent Aurangabad arms haul case and Faisal Shaikh, who has been accused by the cops of being the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander for western India.
Faisal was recently arrested during investigations into the 7/11 blasts. Interrogators said that Faisal sent Fayyaz Kagzi and Zabihuddin Ansari, alias Zaby, to Pakistan for training.
Kagzi and Ansari, along with Rahil Shaikh, are absconding accused in the arms haul case. Though the police have so far not found any evidence to link Ansari, Kagzi and Rahil to the 7/11 blasts, they insisted that all three were in touch with Faisal before fleeing the country.
Ansari reportedly reached Bangladesh from where he fled to Pakistan on June 25, while Rahil is said to be in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

On May 9, the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had intercepted a Tata Sumo near Aurangabad and arrested three men—Ameer Shaikh, Muzaffar Tanvir and Sayyed Zuber—and seized 13kg of RDX, 10 AK-47s and 1,000 live cartridges.
The trio told police that they had been given the consignment by Ansari, a resident of Beed district who escaped from the spot.
The interrogation of over 30 detainees in the 7/11 case revealed that Faisal had sent Ansari and Kagzi to Pakistan via Iran for training.

"Faisal, who was in charge of LeT operations in western India told us that he had sent Kagzi to Pakistan via Iran this year on the recommendation of Rahil Shaikh," said an officer who interrogated Faisal.
Rahil had also recommended Ansari and two other youth presently jailed in New Delhi, and Faisal had subsequently sent them to Pakistan, a crime branch officer said.
Faisal would get at least Rs 50,000 per month through the hawala route to operate in India, police said. Sources said that Rahil would do the recruiting and Faisal would send the recruits for training.
Rahil himself could not go for training to Pakistan since the police had refused him a no-objection certificate for a passport as several cases were registered against him.
Jammu and Kashmir resident Mujaheed Geelani, who surrendered to Pune police on Thursday, is likely to be arrested in the blasts case soon, an ATS officer said.
Investigations into the blasts have entered various walks of life. Police said that the Mahim-based brothers of Feroz Ghaswala, an accused in a Delhi blast case, have said that Ghaswala had become a "rebel" and they had installed a caller ID at home to track his incoming and outgoing calls. But he disconnected the facility.
Others being interrogated include a BPO employee, a Mahim-based lecturer, a north Mumbai cyber cafe owner and a publication house employee who was part of a media delegation that visited Iran earlier this year.
Police said the BPO detainee had been offered a trip to Pakistan by Faisal, but had refused under "family pressure".

About the Author

Mateen Hafeez

Mateen Hafeez, special correspondent at The Times of India in Mumbai, reports on terrorism, underworld, cybercrime and organized crime syndicates. He also writes about the jails in Maharashtra and focuses on human interest stories. He has covered the Ghatkopar bomb blast, Vile Parle bomb blast, Mulund train blast, train serial blasts in 2006, 26/11 terror attacks and Pune's German Bakery bomb blast. He has a special interest in Urdu fiction written by Ibn-e-Safi.

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