Destination Mumbai

THE year began with the ATS arresting three Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives8212;Khurshid Ahmed 29, Arshad Ghulam Ghansi Ahmed Badru 27 and Md Ramzan Abdul Wahab Kazi 52, all from J038;K8212;with five integrated electric circuits, 20 detonators, five timer switches and a loaded .32 pistol. They were arrested on January 5 in an early morning swoop from Nagpada, close to the ATS headquarters. Officials say that this was the first indication of pan-Islamic extremist groups making renewed efforts in executing terror attacks in the city.

Ten days later, their local contact and Haj House Imam, Maulana Ghulam Yahya Allah Baksh, was arrested. However, Baksh could throw little light on what the group8217;s plans as he was picked up before his J038;K-based bosses issued him further instructions.

In an echo of the January 5 action, the ATS arrested two men8212;Mushiruddin Siddiqui 37 and Mansoor Ansari 248212;early on January 30 from the Kurla railway station and seized 950 gm of high-grade explosive, a .38 calibre revolver and a country-made pistol from their possession. But no detonators or electric circuits required for making Improvised Explosive Devices IED was found in their possession.

And though no links were determined between the two operations, it led the intelligence agencies to wake up to existence of at least 17 sleeper cells8212;operated largely by the Lashkar8212;in the city.

8216;8216;Both the operations were carried out on the basis of specific intelligence inputs provided by the Intelligence Bureau. And in both operations, we found something vital missing. This lead us to believe the two were independent cells being operated by different persons belonging to the same outfit. That8217;s a serious discovery, especially in view of the at least 17 other cells we came across later,8217;8217; says a senior ATS officer.

ACCORDING to intelligence officials, militant groups continue to use communal riots to win over disaffected youths and train them in terror tactics at mobile camps in PoK. To guard against groupism, old hands from J038;K and PoK are planted among the local recruits while the latter set up base in the state.

The Gujarat connection, investigators say, is unmistakable. Following the arrest of two Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives in Delhi on May 9, sleuths found that not only were the recruits largely youths with a Gujarat background but also that the state8217;s porous border in Kutch with Pakistan was the main conduit for arms to be smuggled through to Mumbai.

The arms consignment Feroz Ghanswala and Mohammad Ali Chippa8212;the LeT men arrested on May 98212;were caught carrying for delivery to LeT commander Abu Hamza came through the Kutch border earlier this year, intelligence sources say. While Ghanswala hails from Mumbai, Chippa belongs to Ahmedabad. The consignment was sent by Azam Chima, LeT8217;s second-in-command and in-charge of training recruits and supply of arms, ammunition and explosives to its modules across the country.

Another Lashkar cell, busted a day after the Delhi arrests by the Maharashtra ATS at Aurangabad, also revealed that part of the arms cache recovered from the cell operatives was meant for terror attacks in Gujarat. All the 11 operatives arrested so far have a SIMI base. Their questioning revealed that they were motivated to seek revenge for the 2002 riots.

This terror cell8217;s first strike was on board the Karnavati Express on February 19, when an explosive device packed with more than 900 gm of RDX went off at Ahmedabad8217;s Kalupur railway station. Investigators say that the device was to detonate at Mumbai Central railway station but the key Lashkar operative, Faiyaaz Kagdi, who planted it, mistakenly set the timer for an explosion at Ahmedabad.

It is the members of this terror cell who are high on the list of persons suspected to be involved in Terrible Tuesday8217;s train blasts.

EARLIER, the March 17 killing of four Harkat-ul-Mujahedin militants8212;one of them a chief commander8212;by the Ahmedabad crime branch in a Muslim-dominated locality housing scores of relocated victims of the 2002 riots had revealed, for the first time, how Mumbai was being used by militant outfits to create a support base for its operatives in the western part of the country.

The four HuM militants8212;chief commander Azaan, Muddasar Ahmed alias Hanzullah, Mohammad Ayyub Butt both from Shopian in J038;K and Furqan Iqbal Ahmed alias Aashiq, from Karachi8212;first arrived in Mumbai and, over a month, set up a safe base.

All four were found to be well-equipped with sophisticated small arms and jehadi literature, including two 45-minute video compact discs containing footage of terror camps and the atrocities allegedly committed on Muslims in Gujarat.

8216;8216;They first came to Mumbai, set up base and then scattered to different parts of the country only to assemble back in Gujarat,8217;8217; says Assistant Commissioner of Police Crime Girish Singhal of Ahmedabad crime branch, who lead the team that eliminated the four militants at their hideout early in the morning of March 17.

8216;8216;Mumbai is not very far from Ahmedabad. That8217;s why it suited them to set up base here in Ahmedabad,8217;8217; he says.

Mumbai ATS8217;s Raghuvanshi agrees. 8216;8216;We have lately seen Mumbai being used as a transit base by terrorist organisations because of various reasons. Yes, its proximity to Gujarat is a major factor,8217;8217; he says.

INVESTIGATIONS conducted after the encounter revealed that the four militants had arrived in twos in Mumbai in the first week of December last year. Mudassar and Ayyub, who reached first, stayed for a few days at Al-Noor Guest House in Crawford Market. Through a local estate broker, Ramzan, they established contact with one Anil Shukla, a taxi-driver, and rented his one-room house on Golibar Road in Ghatkopar by paying a deposit of Rs 10,000.

After the two then shifted to Ghatkopar, Azaan and Furqan arrived in the city. They hired a room at Anil Guest House, also on Golibar Road. And while Furqan stayed back, the other three moved to Surat in the third week of December last year.

At Surat, the militants established contacts at a local madarsa in Navi Maroli and Kharod areas and later at a madarsa in Padnera near Valsad town where Ayub and Mudassar got themselves admitted. And while Mudassar stayed back, Ayub and Azaan returned to Mumbai, from where they went to Meerut and stayed at a madarsa. But they failed to establish a base in the northern town, say investigators.

After another unsuccessful sortie to Ludhiana, the duo travelled to Delhi, where they were met by Furqan, who was sent to Banglore at the instructions of its J038;K-based commanders. Meanwhile, Ayub collected arms in J038;K and returned to Ahmedabad where the rest gathered in last week of January.

During their two-month-long stay, say investigators, while Azaan and Ayub regularly commuted between Surat, Valsad and Mumbai, keeping tabs on local operatives, the other two fanned out in the city looking for potential recruits. Following their death in the encounter with the Ahmedabad crime branch, the police arrested two Kashmiri youths8212;Bilal Kashmiri and Tariq Kashmiri8212;from the madarsa at Padnera near Valsad. The duo had been recruited by the militants to provide local support.

Intelligence sources say that six other youths had been also recruited by Azaan from a madarsa near Surat in South Gujarat; it is suspected that they have already been sent across the border for training in terror training.