U.S shares info with India on Headley's ISI links and Panetta conducts the briefing, no less.
The disclosure came when National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan held talks with CIA chief Leon Panetta in New Delhi on Saturday, reliable sources said.
The new information given by the US reinforces Indian investigations that have pointed to links between Headley and Rana, who were arrested by the FBI in Chicago last month in connection with a Laskhar-e-Taiba terror plot against India, with the Mumbai carnage.
With the arrest of Headley and Rana dots are being connected: Two held in Italy over Mumbai Terror attacks.
Italian police yesterday arrested two Pakistani men accused of helping to fund last year’s onslaught on Mumbai. The two, a father and son who run a money transfer agency in Brescia, are alleged to have sent money to the terrorists the day before the attacks, police said.
The Italian inquiry follows the arrest by the FBI last month of two men in Chicago on terrorism charges. David Coleman Headley, a US citizen of Pakistani origin, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian, were charged with plotting to attack a Danish newspaper that printed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005.
Their links to India emerged in an affidavit which revealed that they visited the country frequently between 2006 and 2009 and alleged that they discussed attacking Indian targets. The document also alleged that Headley had connections with Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group blamed for the atrocity, and was in Mumbai the week before.
Well lookee here, Tahawwur Rana brought his wife, Samraz, with him when he scoped out the Mumbai Massacre. What's her story, I wonder?
Joint commissioner of police (sector 1) Satish Sharma told TOI, "It is confirmed that Headley stayed at Lemon Tree, but investigations are on".
The hotel was traced from the IMEI number of the cell phone which Headley used and has come under the scanner after hotel authorities earlier told the police they knew no guests by these names. The hotel authorities will be questioned afresh about the trio's stay at this hotel. The police suspect that Headley and the Rana couple had stayed under assumed names and had produced fake passports. The trio conducted detailed recce' of the city identifying potential terror targets.
Investigators say that in November last year Headley had visited the city at least thrice and was also traced to a hotel in Kalupur area. These visits were timed once for 18 hours, then for a day, while Headley's third visit was for two days.
"We have checked flight records for the last three years at the Ahmedabad international airport and none of the three had flown into the city. It's possible that they had come via rail or road route," added the senior official.
About that Italian duo:
According to the Italian police, the two suspects ran the money transfer service in the northern Italian city of Brescia. The duo was arrested in an early morning raid in Brescia.
The arrested suspects are accused of having carried out a money transfer under a false name to pay fees for a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone service. The duo allegedly transferred $229 on November 25, 2008, the day before the attacks in Mumbai. This money was used to activate the internet phone account that was used by the terrorists and their handlers to keep in touch during the three-day terror attack. Three other suspects arrested for "other illegal activities," may have connections with the Pakistani duo, said Italian police.
I leave you with this question, "Is Lashkar now the new global terror threat?" You tell me.
The Lashkar-e-Toiba's reach and presence has steadily been expanding over the past decade with its units now operational in a vast network that stretches from north America to Australia. An ally of the Al Qaida, it has its units in Germany , UK, Iraq, Oman, Bahrain, Dubai and Bangladesh and shares fraternal links with jihadists in Phillipines , Kosovo, Chechnya, Palestine and Jordan.
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