Another carnage foiled

vIndianz.com (28 Jan, 2010) — Indian officials believe their arrest last month in the US foiled perhaps another carnage when India was preparing to mark the first anniversary of the Mumbai attack.

DAVID Headley, was arrested Oct 3 at Chicago airport before boarding a flight to Philadelphia en route to Pakistan. Rana, 48, was arrested two weeks later from his home.

The FBI has charged Headley with conspiring to commit terrorist acts outside the US and supporting terrorism overseas. Rana has been accused of providing material support to a terrorist conspiracy.

Headley reportedly travelled extensively since the second half of 2008, including to Pakistan and India besides Europe. His strengths, it is said, were an eye for detail and a photographic memory.

Rana, owner of several businesses including First World Immigration Services, with offices in Chicago, New York and Toronto, allegedly helped arrange Headley’s travels overseas.

‘The Indian Express’ reported in his flights to and from India, Headley flew Pakistan International Airlines seven times, mentioned his Pakistani father’s name — Syed Akhtar Geelani — in his passport and yet never raised a red flag in Indian immigration.

Top Intelligence sources have confirmed this to ‘The Indian Express’ adding that as a cover, he used fake references, false entries, a quick switch of hotels — from the most expensive in Mumbai to backpacker haunts in Delhi — a shell office, shopping sprees in malls and bookstores. His Pakistan International Airlines flights assume significance given that their passenger manifests are routinely put through rigorous scrutiny and checks. In fact, these flights are timed in off-peak hours to facilitate careful inspection. Incidentally, Headley’s passport had his “American name,” instead of his original name Daood Geelani but it did mention his father’s name as Syed Akhtar Geelani.

The multi-agency probe into the nine visits made by Headley (between September 2006 and March 2009) and the single visit of his associate, Tahawwur Rana (November 2008) has uncovered a sinister modus operandi as the duo went about setting the stage for the Mumbai attacks.

In the case of visas of Rana and his wife Samraz, it is now confirmed that the permits were issued “under the discretion of the Consul General,” and applied for on October 22, 2008. In the afternoon of October 31, sources said, Rana put in a request for the unstamped visas to be returned to him but curiously by the same evening, the visas were issued.

It is now confirmed that Headley and Rana visited several of these destinations, always accompanied by locals whom they had cultivated as friends. For instance: On November 20, 2009, on their return from Kochi/Ahmedabad, Rana and his wife visited Powai, near Mumbai. The military cantonment in Powai figures as one of the targets in the LeT’s hit list.

During his third trip to India (March-May 2007), Headley rode pillion with his gym trainer Vilas Varak to visit Shiv Sena Bhavan and the Siddhivinayak Temple.

His cover for the trips: he wanted to arrange immigration for poor students. Both the locations feature on Lashkar’s target list.

While investigators have no eye-witness accounts for corroboration, they suspect that Headley conducted surveillance of the National Defence College located in New Delhi during his sixth visit (October-November 2007) when he landed in Delhi from Lahore and left from Delhi for the same Pakistani city.

During his eighth visit (July 2008), Headley visited Osho Ashram in Pune and even collected a meditation pass. The Chabad House is located very close to the Osho Ashram and finds place in the list handed over to Indian intelligence.

The fashion designer whose number was found in Headley’s phone has since informed Mumbai investigators that they had visited the World Trade Centre in Colaba where he had participated in a fashion exhibition. This building also figures in the LeT’s hit list.

A “China connection” has also emerged in the ongoing probe. Rana’s relatives, who have been extensively questioned by agencies about his visits to Meerut and Hapur, have said that they were told by him that he was engaged in the meat business and had just returned from China after purchasing meat slaughtering machines.

There is also an interesting April 2007 email sent by Headley from the fashion designer’s ID to two unidentified foreigners. In the mail, Headley has said he owned two shops in a prominent city in China which he wanted to rent out from May 2007 onwards. There is no confirmation yet about the city and location of these commercial properties.

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