By IANS,
New Delhi : Investigators probing US-born terror suspect David Headley’s links to the 26/11 Mumbai attack are not too sure if he was actually present in the control room in Pakistan directing the 10 terrorists, and said it could be confirmed once his voice sample was obtained from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
“We understand there is an unidentified voice giving directions to the 10 terrorists but at this point it would be premature to conclude if it was that of Headley,” intelligence sources said.
Sleuths from the National Investigation Agency probing Headley’s terror connections are hoping that the FBI will provide them with the voice sample soon and believe their probe will receive a fillip if it matches.
From the intercepts, investigators have found that there were specific instructions being given to terrorists about the entry and exit routes of the targets chosen by the terrorists, that included the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel, Oberoi Trident Hotel and Nariman House.
Charges filed by the FBI earlier this month in a US court alleged that Headley, arrested in October for planning terrorist attacks against a Danish newspaper and two of its employees, also conducted extensive surveillance of targets in Mumbai for more than two years preceding the 26/11 attack that killed 166 people, including six American nationals.
“Headley, 49, was charged in a 12-count criminal information with six counts of conspiracy to bomb public places in India, to murder and maim persons in India and Denmark, to provide material support to foreign terrorist plots, and to provide material support to Lashkar, and six counts of aiding and abetting the murder of US citizens in India,” the department of justice said in a release.
After each trip that Headley took to India between September 2006 and July 2008, he allegedly returned to Pakistan, met with other co-conspirators and provided them with photographs, videos and oral descriptions of various locations.
In March 2008, Headley and his co-conspirators discussed potential landing sites for a team of attackers who would arrive by sea in Mumbai, and he was instructed to take boat trips in and around the Mumbai harbour and take surveillance video, which he did during his visit to India starting in April 2008, the charges allege.
At various times, Headley allegedly conducted surveillance of other locations in Mumbai and elsewhere in India of facilities and locations that were not attacked in November 2008, including the National Defence College in Delhi.
On Dec 9, Headley pleaded not guilty to the charge that he worked with the LeT to plan the Mumbai attacks.