The arrested Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)
handler Syed Zabiuddin
Ansari alias
Abu Jundal has told
the Intelligence and
Delhi Police officials
that "10 SIM cards,
used by 10 terrorists,
including lone survivor
Ajmal Kasab, in Mumbai
were procured and sent
to Pakistan by Abu Zar,
Lashkar-e-Taiba's commander
in Jammu and Kashmir",
said a source, The
Times of India
reported on July 13.
"Jundal has disclosed
that Zar was given responsibility
to procure SIM cards
by Lakhvi and Muzammil,"
said the source. Jundal
has, however, denied
of ever meeting Zar.
Jundal's claim also
confirms India's earlier
investigations that
had established that
SIM cards were procured
from India.
Zar, the source added, had asked his accomplices to buy Indian
SIM cards from the Valley
on fake identity cards
and then sent them to
the training camp in
Karachi, where the 10
terrorists were preparing
for the November 26,
2008 (26/11) attacks
on Mumbai. The officials
refused to give more
details about Zar saying,
"All we know so
far is that he was an
active Lashkar commander
in J&K during 26/11.
His job was limited
to procuring SIM cards,
so his name never figured
in our earlier investigations,"
said the source. Earlier,
Indian agencies had
arrested four Police
Officers in Jammu and
Kashmir, including Mukhtar
Ahmad Sheikh, who reportedly
had connections with
the LeT and had arranged
22 SIM cards, out of
which a few had been
used in 26/11. Sources
say that Zar might have
used Sheikh and others
for procuring these
cellphone connections.
Agencies are investigating
the link between Zar
and Sheikh. Sheikh was
arrested by agencies
in December 2008. Sheikh,
sources say, was working
for police, but had
joined LeT helping the
organization in militancy
activities in the Valley.
The other three Police
officers, who were found
involved in illegal
activities, were identified
by agencies as Riyaz,
Mukhtar and Ilyas.
Jundal was arrested by Delhi Police at New
Delhi's Indira Gandhi
International Airport
on June 21, 2012, after
he was deported from
Saudi Arabia. |
