U.S. national David Coleman Headley, nabbed by FBI for plotting a major terror attack in India at LeT’s behest, was a frequent flyer who made multiple trips to Pakistan where he spent “substantial time” undergoing training from the terror group, American investigators have said.
49-year-old Headley was arrested on October 3 along with Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin, by FBI at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport as he prepared to board a flight to Philadelphia, intending to travel to Pakistan.
According to the affidavit submitted by FBI to the U.S. District Court of Illinois, Headley, alias ‘Daood Gilani’, at times has claimed to be a consultant with or representative of First World Immigration Services, a company owned and operated by Rana.
Surveillance of Headley’s activities as well as his phone conversations and e-mail exchanges, reflect that he performed a few services for First World.
“Headley has no known or reported employment other than with First World. His residence in Chicago is an apartment leased to an individual who is deceased,” the affidavit says.
“Notwithstanding his apparent lack of financial resources and substantial employment, Headley has engaged in extensive international travel since the second half of 2008, including multiple trips to Pakistan and various countries in Europe,” it says.
Records reflecting the locations of internet protocol addresses used by Headley, who changed his name to ‘Daood Gilani’ in 2006, to send e-mails indicate that he has spent “substantial time” in Pakistan and elsewhere during the last several years — often for months at a time, the affidavit says.
For example, records of e-mail accounts used by Headley reflect that between in or about August 2008 and December 7, 2008, he sent multiple e-mail messages from internet addresses located in the Pakistani cities of Karachi and Lahore.
The affidavit says that on January 24, 2009, Headley left for Pakistan via Frankfurt, Germany and the United Arab Emirates.
Headley, Rana and co-plotters, including persons only identified as ‘Individual B’ and ‘Lashkar-e-Toiba Member A’, have used several methods of communication, including in-person meetings, telephone conversations and e-mails.
Based in Pakistan, the banned LeT has been mainly involved in terrorist attacks in India, including the Mumbai strikes last year in November.
The FBI has told a Chicago court that both Headley and Rana, now lodged in a downtown Chicago jail, were in close contact with LeT leaders in connection with a major terrorist attack in India.
Headley in particular, used a cell phone, the account of which is in the name of a deceased individual, the FBI says.
In nearly all of their communications, Headley, Rana, Individual B and LeT Member A have used coded language.
In addition to ‘Mickey Mouse Project,’ the co-conspirators have referred to this plot, as well as discussions of other targets as “investments”, “projects”, “business”, “action” and in other terms and have described their hopes for success both in terms of receiving religious awards as well as getting .
On October 3, when Headley was arrested, FBI agents checked his luggage. Among other items recovered from his checked luggage was a photocopy of the front page of an August 1, 2009 issue of the ‘Jyllands-Posten’, a Danish newspaper that published cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in 2005 which had enraged the Muslims.
Headley also had a street guide for Copenhagen and a list of phone numbers, including a Pakistani telephone number he had used to contact ‘Individual B.’ He also had a memory stick which had 13 short videos of the Danish city.
