Chicago:
David Headley has told a court in Chicago that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) provided him training for carrying out surveillance work for the 26/11 carnage. He added that he attended over 50 training sessions with the ISI.
"ISI did provide me (espionage) training," Headley told the court as he was grilled by the defence attorney Charles D Swift on the third day of the trial of Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana, another co-accused in the 26/11 attacks.
Headley said he was provided the training by Major Iqbal, who he says was his ISI handler, on the streets and in a two-storey safe house in Lahore near the airport.
Headley told the court that when he met Major Iqbal in 2006, he "expressed dissatisfaction at the military and espionage training that he had received from the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) earlier." Headley further added that Major Iqbal, who has been identified by him as Chaudhery Khan, then told him that the training he received from LeT was "not very good" and was "very elementary" and so he decided to give instructions to him.
"It was a two-storey house in a residential neighbourhood and there was a small compound outside it," Headley said about the Lahore house during the course of questioning by Swift. He also admitted to being an informer for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Headley, a Pakistani-American, is the key witness in the trial of Rana. He has already pleaded guilty to laying the groundwork for the Mumbai attacks and has agreed to testify against Rana to avoid the death penalty.
Headley's disclosures further cement India's charges that elements of the ISI were involved in the 26/11 attacks. (With PTI Inputs)
"ISI did provide me (espionage) training," Headley told the court as he was grilled by the defence attorney Charles D Swift on the third day of the trial of Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana, another co-accused in the 26/11 attacks.
Headley said he was provided the training by Major Iqbal, who he says was his ISI handler, on the streets and in a two-storey safe house in Lahore near the airport.
Headley told the court that when he met Major Iqbal in 2006, he "expressed dissatisfaction at the military and espionage training that he had received from the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) earlier." Headley further added that Major Iqbal, who has been identified by him as Chaudhery Khan, then told him that the training he received from LeT was "not very good" and was "very elementary" and so he decided to give instructions to him.
"It was a two-storey house in a residential neighbourhood and there was a small compound outside it," Headley said about the Lahore house during the course of questioning by Swift. He also admitted to being an informer for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Headley, a Pakistani-American, is the key witness in the trial of Rana. He has already pleaded guilty to laying the groundwork for the Mumbai attacks and has agreed to testify against Rana to avoid the death penalty.
Headley's disclosures further cement India's charges that elements of the ISI were involved in the 26/11 attacks. (With PTI Inputs)
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