Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Abu Jundal alias Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari got involved in the 26/11 conspiracy around four months before the attack, he is learnt to have told the Mumbai Crime Branch, interrogating him in the case.
“He was involved from August 2008, when he was handed over specific tasks. He sneaked into Pakistan in 2006 and started getting militancy training there,” a senior police official said here on Monday.
A team of six police officers interrogated Jundal about his family background, how he got involved in terrorist activities, how he escaped from India and reached Pakistan, and his involvement in 26/11.
He is also learnt to have done odd jobs in Pakistan during his stay there. He allegedly worked on private construction sites, the police said.
“It is possible that he might have met other Indians during his training in Pakistan between 2006 and 2011. He might have been in touch with them before 26/11,” an official said, adding that Jundal very much underwent Daura-e-Aam and Daura-e-Khaas combat training courses in Pakistan.
“We are in the process of establishing his specific role in the 26/11 conspiracy. It is possible that he might have recruited many Indians and that he had access to [Lashkar-e-Taiba founder] Hafiz Saeed,” the officer said.
“Till 2003, he did apprenticeship as an electrician at Satya Electricals in Beed and simultaneously converted to Ahl al-Hadith in 2003. In 2005, he started leaning towards terror activities,” he said, adding that Jundal told them he had met Aslam Kashmiri, LeT operative from Jammu and Kashmir, in 2005.
Amir, an accused in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case, introduced Jundal to Kashmiri. In 2005, he also allegedly visited Nepal. In 2006, he travelled by train to Kolkata from where he crossed over to Bangladesh and then reached Pakistan by air on a fake passport.
Jundal is a Bachelor of Science. He had enrolled for a B.Sc. course in 2001. Thereafter, he enrolled for a Master of Arts course in Hindi literature and completed only the first year of his course in Beed’s KSK College.
