New Delhi:
David Coleman Headley, who had carried out extensive surveillance of Mumbai attack targets in India, had also planned an escape route for the 26/11 terrorists.
The Pakistani-American, who has pleaded guilty to laying the groundwork for the attacks, had told National Investigation Agency (NIA) interrogators that he had mapped how the terrorists would reach various train stations and bus stops and leave for Lashkar-e-Taiba's safe houses in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Kashmir.
But as the crackdown on its network Indian Mujahideen weakened, LeT leader Hafiz Saeed changed the high-risk plan and brainwashed the terrorists into becoming 'martyrs' for the cause. Ajmal Kasab, the only 26/11 terrorist caught alive, had confirmed this when he told a court that he was instructed "to keep on killing till he was alive.''
During his interrogation by the NIA in June last year, Headley had given extensive details of his nine visits to India.
According to a report submitted by the NIA, on his first visit to India in 2006, Headley stayed at the Taj Hotel, filmed all its entries and exits and mapped the hotel on a Global Positioning System (GPS) device.
But Sajid Mir, his Lahskar-e-Taiba (LeT) handler, was more interested in the hotel's three banquet halls, the report says. So during subsequent visits, Headley filmed them by attending all defence, science and IT conferences scheduled at these venues.
Headley had also videographed the New-Delhi based National Defence College. He had also talked of his reconnaissance in places such as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai, Raksha Bhavan in Delhi, Bombay Stock Exchange in Mumbai, Naval Air Base in Goa, Shiv Sena Bhavan in Mumbai, Osho Ashram in Pune and the CBI office in Mumbai. These places were never targeted, possibly because the plans were called off after Headley's arrest.
Headley had also told his interrogators that the LeT had trained him for surveillance of possible targets in India along with 17 others - mostly men from India. What is worrisome is his revelation that they were all sent back with the instruction to disappear into their daily, uneventful lives, but keep the terror recces alive.
The Pakistani-American, who has pleaded guilty to laying the groundwork for the attacks, had told National Investigation Agency (NIA) interrogators that he had mapped how the terrorists would reach various train stations and bus stops and leave for Lashkar-e-Taiba's safe houses in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Kashmir.
But as the crackdown on its network Indian Mujahideen weakened, LeT leader Hafiz Saeed changed the high-risk plan and brainwashed the terrorists into becoming 'martyrs' for the cause. Ajmal Kasab, the only 26/11 terrorist caught alive, had confirmed this when he told a court that he was instructed "to keep on killing till he was alive.''
During his interrogation by the NIA in June last year, Headley had given extensive details of his nine visits to India.
According to a report submitted by the NIA, on his first visit to India in 2006, Headley stayed at the Taj Hotel, filmed all its entries and exits and mapped the hotel on a Global Positioning System (GPS) device.
But Sajid Mir, his Lahskar-e-Taiba (LeT) handler, was more interested in the hotel's three banquet halls, the report says. So during subsequent visits, Headley filmed them by attending all defence, science and IT conferences scheduled at these venues.
Headley had also videographed the New-Delhi based National Defence College. He had also talked of his reconnaissance in places such as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai, Raksha Bhavan in Delhi, Bombay Stock Exchange in Mumbai, Naval Air Base in Goa, Shiv Sena Bhavan in Mumbai, Osho Ashram in Pune and the CBI office in Mumbai. These places were never targeted, possibly because the plans were called off after Headley's arrest.
Headley had also told his interrogators that the LeT had trained him for surveillance of possible targets in India along with 17 others - mostly men from India. What is worrisome is his revelation that they were all sent back with the instruction to disappear into their daily, uneventful lives, but keep the terror recces alive.
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