Indian agencies are rejoicing over statements made by 26/11 accused David Headley, but they also know that the task ahead, especially for the interrogators, is not an easy one.
American terror suspect David Headley was scheduled to visit India again in November last year, apparently to finalise the next target for terror outfit Lashker-e-Tayiba and set up a base in Delhi. Sources privy to the investigations said that Headley, 49, had told his friends in India that he was coming to the country in November.
The presence of David Headley in Mumbai has thrown up many questions before investigators busy trying to find out whether disappeared cadres of the banned Student Islamic Movement of India and the Indian Mujahideen had used his immigration service.
Some Indians living in Karachi were willing to work with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba to carry out terror attacks in India, David Headley has said, apparently referring to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who is based in the port city of Pakistan.
Justifying a controversial deal with Mumbai terror attacks accused David Headley that spared him from the death penalty and extradition to India, a top United States attorney on Friday said that not making the pact would have been a "terrible mistake".
Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Al Qaeda were convinced that 26/11 attack masterminds Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman would face only "superficial" action from the Pakistani authorities and within months plans were afoot for another terror strike in India, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley said on Saturday.
Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist David Headley, who "unquestionably contributed" to the Mumbai attacks that claimed 166 lives, was sentenced by a Chicago court
Was American national, terror suspect and Lashkar-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent? This is something that both Indian investigators and also the Intelligence Bureau are trying to ascertain. The IB says that the United States knew of Headley much before his tryst with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.
Terrorist David Headley was ready to double cross his comrades-in-arms after his 2009 arrest and had prepared to setup dreaded Al Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri to be targeted in a United States drone strike.
Mumbai attack co-accused David Headley on Thursday told a US court that a Pakistani Navy man was present during discussions with his ISI handler Major Iqbal on landing sites and arrival of Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists by sea.
American-born Lashker-e-Tayiba operative David Headley, accused of plotting the Mumbai terror attack in 2008, had 'hatred' towards India and warned that he would stop helping the probe if his admission of guilt was linked to cooperation with New Delhi.
The United States Department of Justice on Thursday announced that a team of Indian investigators was afforded complete and unhindered access to Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley over a period of seven days.The department, in a statement, said, "As part of the cooperation and partnership between the United States and India in the fight against international terrorism, Indian law enforcement officials were provided direct access to interview David Headley.
The United States has ruled out any extradition for the American born Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist David Headley, in lieu of providing critical information to the United States agencies about various other terror outfits.
In revelations that clearly show Inter Services Intelligence's role in the Mumbai terror attacks, Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley has told his interrogators that the Pakistani intelligence agency had paid Rs 25 lakh to Lashkar-e-Tayiba to purchase a boat, which terrorists used to travel from Karachi.
Well briefed on India's angst over the ambiguity on the access to Lashkar operative and 26/11 conspirator David Coleman Headley and also the perceived US indifference to India's role in Afghanistan, US President Barack Obama has assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that he was "fully supportive" of India's request for access to Headley and "fully appreciated" and "recognized the enormous sacrifices" India has made in helping "stabilize" Afghanistan.
Ambassador Daniel Benjamin, coordinator for counter-terrorism at the United States department of state, has made it abundantly clear that his office will not influence law enforcement authorities via any diplomatic lobbying to provide India with direct access to Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley. Pakistani-American Headley was part of the conspiracy for the horrific terror attacks that shook Mumbai on November 26, 2008 and left 166 people dead.
Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley can be interrogated by Indian investigators in the United States after he confessed to plotting Mumbai attacks, even as India's efforts to extradite him hit a roadblock.
'Headley's confirmation of certain aspects of the conspiracy, its planning and what his role was will definitely matter.'
Intelligence sources told rediff.com that the duo had both video footage and photographs of the targets that were attacked on November 26.
"Get lost" was what the US officials in Islamabad told the young Moroccan wife of 26/11 accused David Headley when she informed them that her husband was planning a terror attack in India with the help of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.
The United States will inform India by next week about possible dates, most likely in this month, for giving direct access to Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley.
In an interview with Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, George Alexander Mapp, a friend of Faiza Outalha, estranged wife of Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist David Coleman Headley, talks about his relationship with Faiza, his ordeal with the NIA and what he thinks about the Headley case.
The Indian government will be 'satisfied' if Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley, who pleaded guilty in a United States court to his involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks, is awarded a life sentence, Home Secretary G K Pillai said on Friday. "The US attorney general has advised a sentence of life imprisonment. If he gets a sentence of life imprisonment, I don't think the government of India will be unsatisfied," he said.
India has said that it would like to get "access" to arrested US terror suspects David Coleman Headley and his accomplice Tahawwur Rana for interrogation following incriminating evidence about their role in the Mumbai attacks.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-origin American citizen charged with criminal conspiracy in the Mumbai terror attacks, could face the 'maximum statutory penalty' of life imprisonment or death if convicted.This was contained in additional charges unsealed at a Chicago court, which is hearing the case against 49-year-old Headley, who was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in October, along with LeT operative Tahawwur Hussain Rana.
The United States has indicated that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has evidence linking American terror suspect David Coleman Headley and his Pakistani-Canadian accomplice Tahawwur Rana to the deadly Mumbai terror attacks. A FBI team arrived in New Delhi on Sunday to hold discussions with their Indian counterparts, during which it may share information on Headley's links with several people in the country, including those linked to the Mumbai terror attacks.
Pakistan army has arrested a retired Major for his alleged links with terror suspects David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, nabbed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on charges of plotting attacks against India and Denmark.
The Indian society and the families of the 26/11 terror attack victims should start a campaign against the plea," former additional secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, B Raman said at an anti-terrorism seminar in Mumbai.
The Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing are downplaying their team's failure to meet David Headley, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative currently in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's custody.
The Mumbai police on Monday submitted a chargesheet before a special court in Mumbai against Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana for his involvement in the November 2008 terror attacks in the metropolis.
India will send a letter to the United States by the end of this week seeking direct access to David Headley, who pleaded guilty to 12 terror charges of conspiracy involving bombing public places in India and is currently in American custody.
India has insisted that US must provide a direct access to its investigators to interrogate Pakistani-American David Headley, who has confessed to plotting the Mumbai terror attacks.
All governments indulge in spin. One should not, therefore, blame the government of Dr Manmohan Singh for indulging in spin in the case of David Coleman Headley, of the Chicago cell of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, and for trying to mislead the hapless Indian public with the help of obliging journalists that the plea bargain entered into by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with Headley was not a setback, but a great triumph for Indian diplomacy.
David Coleman Headley, who pleaded guilty before a United States court on Thursday night, cannot be impleaded in the 26/11 trial going on in Mumbai as it is nearing completion, but he can be put on trial in Pakistan, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said on Friday. However, he said, Pakistani-American Headley's admission of guilt before a US court has strengthened the Mumbai terror attacks case, which is being heard in a special court.
Investigators have found "footprints" of US terror suspect David Headley in the Pune blast and hope to get a breakthrough "very soon" following intensive questioning of some people, mostly locals. Highly placed sources said on Wednesday that the plan of exploding the high-intensity bomb at the German Bakery was executed by some local terror modules with help from outside Maharashtra.
Speak about terrorism being made into a political tool, and there cannot be a better case than the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case. In his interrogation, 26/11 convict David Headley told the National Investigation Agency that Ishrat was a fidayeen, in 2010. Despite this fact, the home ministry allegedly asked the NIA to not include this angle in the Headley probe. Vicky Nanjappa finds out why.
American terror suspect David Headley stayed at the Osho Ashram in Pune twice during his visits to the city in 2008-09 but did not register himself as a foreign national with the police, a top official said on Tuesday.
Investigations showed that during his first visit to Mumbai in the year 2007, he stayed at the Taj Mahal hotel for nearly 10 days. As per investigations, Headley checked into room number 1809 in the Taj Mahal hotel and stayed there between April 20 and 30 2007. The IB says that this information is being verified and would prove crucial to the 26/11 probe.
According to sources privy to the investigations, the 49-year-old American national, arrested from Chicago airport and currently in FBI custody, spent considerable time at the Golf course and the National Investigation Agency is now recording the statement of witnesses.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba operatives David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Rana, friends from a military school in Pakistan and facing charges of conspiring 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, have not been in contact with each other or met despite being in the same federal lock-up.
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