By IANS,
Islamabad : Pakistan is close to cracking the conspiracy behind the Mumbai terror attacks, Interior Minister Rehman Malik indicated Thursday, urging India to help it in the process.
“Two very important individuals are with us (arrested) but I will not reveal their names,” Malik said at a press conference here during which he detailed the progress made by Pakistani investigators into the Mumbai attacks.
He also said that a first information report had been registered and that six alleged terrorists had also been arrested.
Among them was Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the “alleged mastermind” who had “been located and is under investigation”, Malik said.
According to Malik, the “main operator” of the Mumbai attacks was Hamar Amin Sadiq, who was born in 1971. “We have his ID card, his linkages from south of Punjab, presently residing in a rented house in Karachi.
The terrorists were trained by Abu Hamza of the LeT and “their handlers remained in touch (during the Mumbai mayhem) through satellite handphones”, Malik said.
The terrorists, Malik said, used Callphonics, a US-registered service provider that was “paid from Islamabad. We have arrested the owner and the person whose ID card was used. We have identified the Callphonics payment”.
Detailing the manner in which a major breakthrough had been achieved, he said: “We traced the owner of shop where the rubber boat (the terrorists used to land in Mumbai) was purchased.
“We had information from the shopkeeper that the guy who bought it gave one telephone number and that helped investigations. When we reached the number it was closed. We obtained a lead that went to a bank. There was an account of someone related to an act of terrorism,” Malik said.
“The account led to an individual who was the operator (of the Mumbai attacks). He gave us a number of other leads which we do not want to make public,” he added.
Malik also urged India to assist with the probe. “We will be requesting some additional information from India. This does not mean we will stop our investigations. It will be of great help to strengthen our prosecution,” he maintained.