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Terrorists came from Pakistan: Mumbai police chief

MUMBAI: Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor has confirmed the contents of an exclusive account of the planning and execution of the Mumbai massacre, published in this newspaper on Tuesday.

At a press conference here, Mr. Gafoor said the 10 terrorists had sailed in a merchant vessel from Karachi on the high seas, before boarding Kuber, a hijacked fishing boat. After nearing Mumbai, the group left the trawler on an inflatable rubber dinghy, and landed at Budhwar Park near Cuffe Parade.

Later, Mr. Gafoor said, the terrorists split into five teams of two each and hailed taxis to travel to their final targets: the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi-Trident hotel complex, the Leopold Café, the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower and Nariman House.

Each group carried timer-controlled improvised explosive devices, Mr. Gafoor said.

Two of these devices were placed under the front seats of hired taxis, which exploded in the Vile Parle and Mazgaon-Byculla areas, killing the occupants. Three other IEDs were defused at the Trident, between Leopold and the Taj Hotel and outside the Taj Hotel. Each of the terrorists was armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and a pistol.

In addition, Mr. Gafoor said, each of them carried between Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 5,000 in cash, and some foreign currency which might have been seized from the hostages.

Mr. Gafoor confirmed that the attackers used a global positioning system to chart their course. Once in Mumbai, the men used mobile phones fitted with Indian SIM cards, which they used to communicate with their controllers through a voice-over-Internet connection.

Noting that the terrorists were highly skilled, Mr. Gafoor said the group had spent a year in training under the tutelage of a former Pakistan Army officer.

Mr. Gafoor refuted speculation that some of the men had stayed at the targeted hotels prior to the attack. To a question how the men were then able to negotiate the targeted buildings, Mr. Gafoor said “they were shown detailed plans.”

He also stated that investigations so far did not reveal any involvement of local residents, and denied that there were more terrorists hidden in Mumbai. The Mumbai police had arrested only one terrorist so far, Mr. Gafoor said.

Discussing the possible motives underpinning the attack, he said the attackers “wanted to create a sensation.” He noted that the attacks at the Nariman House and the Leopold Café were targeted at foreign nationals.

Mr. Gafoor admitted that the Mumbai police had received intelligence on possible terror strikes in the city in the wake of the bombing of the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad on September 21.

Mr. Gafoor appealed to the people not to believe in rumours of imminent terror strikes that swept through Mumbai in recent days, spread in the main through text messages. “If there is a danger we will inform you,” he said.

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