Rana may have helped Bangalore blasts accused flee India

Around November 22,2008,six days after Tahawwur Rana,48,one of two Pakistan origin US citizens at the centre of a FBI terror investigation...

Around November 22,2008,six days after Tahawwur Rana,48,one of two Pakistan origin US citizens at the centre of a FBI terror investigation,visited Kochi,ostensibly as an immigration consultant,a Muscat-based LeT intermediary received a call from a key on-the-run terrorist from Kerala.

The caller was Nasir Tadiyandavede alias Ummar Haji,33,accused number one in the July 25,2008 Bangalore serial blasts case and a key accused in a plot busted in October 2008 to send Kerala youths to PoK for terror training. He was calling from a Bangladesh number (008801191554513) to report that he had reached Dhaka along with another key Bangalore blast accused,Safaz,28.

According to reports emerging from Dhaka,following the FBI arrests of Rana and David Headley in October,security agencies in Bangladesh and India have arrested the two Bangalore blast accused. The Daily Star in Bangladesh reported on Tuesday that LeT men T Nasir and Safaz from Indian state of Kerala were in the custody of Indian intelligence agencies following a November 6 arrest. While Bangalore Police sources said they had heard of the newspaper reports,but had not received any confirmation,correspondents of The Daily Star vouched for the arrest of the Kerala men and their subsequent handing over to Indian agencies. Kerala DGP Jacob Punnose hinted that the men reported arrested in Bangladesh could be the same ones wanted in Kerala and Karnataka.

Sources said the arrest of Nasir and Safaz were carried out by Bangladeshi authorities on November 6 as part of investigations on information gleaned from the FBIs Headley-Rana probe of a LeT plan to attack the Indian and US embassies in Dhaka.

The arrests are expected to throw fresh light on what role,if any,was played by Rana in the escape of Nasir and Safaz to Bangladesh,following Ranas November 16 visit to Kochi.

On November 22,2008,the Muscat man who received Nasirs communication of safe passage to Dhaka was Sarfaraz Nawaz,32,a native of Kochi and accused number three in the Bangalore serial blasts case,who interfaced with Gulf and Pakistani LeT operatives to finance a small band of Muslim youths from Kerala to carry out the Bangalore blasts,to train in PoK and escape from India. Nawaz was arrested by the police on February 27 after what is believed to be a secret RAW operation to deport him from Oman. From accounts provided by Nawaz,coupled with information regarding Ranas visit to Kochi on November 16,2008,investigators are veering towards seeing a role for Rana in the disappearance of terror accused from India. FBI court documents stressing Rana’s willingness to facilitate illegal immigration have strengthened suspicion,sources said.

Sources,however,said there was no evidence to link Rana with any of the missing terror accused from Kerala and Karnataka despite extensive analysis of local phone numbers of the missing accused for the period of Ranas tour to South India.

Ex-Pak Army officer detained

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security agencies have detained a former Army officer for possible links with David Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana,an Army spokesperson said on Wednesday. Both were arrested last month in Chicago and are accused of planning an attack on Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten,which published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in 2005,sparking protests by Muslim countries. Pakistani military spokesperson Major-General Athar Abbas said a former

Army major was detained and is being questioned. Reuters