The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) helped India connect the small boat used by the terrorists in the 26/11 Mumbai attack, to Pakistan.
A retired police officer who supervised the investigations in 2008-09, told The Hindu that the FBI sent one of its agents to the headquarters of Yamaha Motor in Japan to seek help in tracing the person who purchased the engine.
The inflatable boat was abandoned near Badhwar Park along Mumbai's coastline by the ten LeT men who entered Mumbai with rucksacks containing grenades, RDX, Kalashnikovs, pistols, GPS set, mobile phones, raisins and almonds.
This boat, brought from Pakistan, was transferred to MV Kuber , an Indian fishing trawler that was hijacked in high seas by the LeT squad on November 23. The squad led by their handler were shipped in a vessel Al Hussaini from Karachi, till they entered the Indian waters and spotted Kuber. They pretended they were adrift when the trawler came close. Soon the LeT squad leapt on to the trawler and the fishermen were pushed over to Hussaini. The captain of the trawler Amarchand Solanki was held hostage by the squad was asked to sail towards Mumbai. Nearly 30 hours later, they saw Mumbai coastline from far. Solanki was killed and the squad prepared the inflatable boat on the deck of Kuber that they brought from Karachi. They abandoned the trawler and sailed towards Mumbai with the help of a GPS set. This boat was fitted with a Yamaha engine. Navigating through the fisherman’s colony they entered the city around 8.15 p.m. on November 26, 2008.
The unique number engraved on the engine had been erased by the conspirators. The FBI asked Yamaha’s dealer in the U.S. for help, the official said. The dealer directed them to Yamaha’s office in Japan.
Secret location
“The Yamaha official in Japan told the FBI that it was possible to trace the number even if it had been erased or damaged. They were told about a cavity at the bottom of an encase containing the cylinders, which when opened would have the unique number engraved on the side. The conspirators didn’t know about this number. The FBI shared this information with us and our engineers were able to retrieve the number; the engine was then traced to a Karachi shop,” said the official.
The shop owner in Karachi sold eight such engines to Amjad Khan, a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) financier. Ten LeT men from Pakistan had set off 10 years ago on one of the boats to carry out the attack in Mumbai on November 26. The attack claimed 166 lives, including that of six Americans.
The official said this number was key to connecting the boat to the neighbouring country. The number was part of the evidence handed over to Pakistan. The U.S. authorities put pressure on Pakistan, and raids were conducted, leading to the arrest of seven persons, including Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, the operational commander of the LeT and one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 Mumbai attack.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) of Pakistan charged 27 accused, and 20 were declared proclaimed offenders. The trial is yet to be concluded. “Based on our intelligence, the FIA raided the house of the person who had purchased the engines; we made arrangements for him to depose in a Mumbai court through videoconferencing,” said the official.
‘Key conspirators free’
However, Maharashtra public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told The Hindu that the FIA had arrested only petty people, but the main conspirators — LeT chief Hafiz Saeed and Lakhvi were free.
“Pakistan’s FIA arrested the person who sold the said boat, also arrested the person who financed him. Ajmal Kasab’s (the lone Pakistani terrorist caught alive and later sentenced to death) confession coupled with David Headley’s (an American who conducted surveillance of targets) deposition, the entire plan was hatched by Hafiz Saeed, Lakhvi and Pakistan’s ISI. During one of the training sessions, Kasab was patted on the back by a Pakistani army official,” Mr. Nikam said.
Adding another layer to the evidence, the intelligence official said an IED recovered from a railway station was defused and dumped at the Colaba police station. The FBI had asked for access to the IED.
He added various foreign intelligence agencies wanted their finger in the pie. British intelligence had prepared a dossier on Lashkar’s activities and had come close to arresting Sajid Mir alias Wasi Bhai, (handler of the 26/11 attackers) in 2003 in London as the outfit planned to attack a nuclear installation in Australia.
“They were able to lift fingerprints from the IED and matched it with those of an LeT operative in their database. This also proved vital in linking the attackers to Pakistan. The IED was packed in layers of adhesive tapes. They removed one layer each, and on the first part of the tape they found the fingerprints. Police had dumped them thinking they were mere case property,” said the official.
Headley challenge
He said then Home Minister P. Chidambaram had insisted that a team of IB officials be sent to the U.S. to interrogate Headley. However, U.S. officials were adamant and did not allow the team to meet Headley. “All they got was a visit to the FBI headquarters and a photograph of Headley,” he said. Later, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) interrogated Headley.
India had told Pakistan that the period of conspiracy to commit the terrorist attack was actually between 2005-2008 but FIA only investigated the period between 2007-08.
“Headley deposed in a Chicago court that Pakistan’s ISI and Army were helping the LeT. Headley had an e-mail correspondence with an LeT operative where the latter assured that nothing was going to happen to Saeed and Lakhvi,” Mr. Nikam said.
Doubts over trial in Pak.
He said the trial in Pakistan court would never come to an end and he wouldn’t be surprised if the accused walked free. Pakistan has asked India to send 27 witnesses to depose before the FIA court. “We have offered them to record the statements through video conferencing. We insisted that you [Pakistan] record the evidence given by Headley,” Mr. Nikam said.
Headley was made an approver in 2015 by the Mumbai police in a case against Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal alias Abu Hamza, an alleged LeT operative who was present in the Karachi control room from where the ten terrorists were being directed during the attack. He was deported from Saudi Arabia in 2012. A resident of Mumbai, Ansari was present in the Karachi control room from where handler Wasi Bhai gave directions to the squad when they set out on carnage.
Asked why Headley was made an approver in a Mumbai court in 2015 against another LeT operative Zabiuddin Ansari when he is wanted for the 26/11 attacks, Mr. Nikam said, “It takes a thief to catch another thief. Headley cannot be deported to India as he has entered into plea bargain with the U.S. authorities.”
