 Some months ago, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had launched a search in the city for a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative named Abu Ameen. They had little to go by except for a sketchy physical descriptionAmeen was believed to prefer a kurta and jeansand a tip-off that he preferred to use public transport buses. The suspect, however, proved elusive.
In the wake of the 7/11 attacks, investigating agencies have concluded that Abu Ameen was none other than one of the masterminds of the serial train blasts, Faisal Shaikh, who is now in custody. The search for Ameen during May and June this year had thrown up a blank because the man had cleverly covered his tracks while building his network in Mumbai.
| Faisal Shaikh had chosen to remain clean-shaven and dressed in trendy outfits in a bid to look the part of an average young urbanite. |
Faisal Shaikh had chosen to remain clean-shaven and dressed in trendy outfits in a bid to look the part of an average young urbanite. His function as the Lashkar's key agent for handpicking youths for training in the use of arms and explosives was seemingly at odds with his lifestyle: Shaikh took to wearing jeans, T-shirts, sneakers and Ray-Ban sunglasses. He sported shoulder-length hair and rode a Pulsar motorcycle. He would also smoke expensive brands of cigarettes. When Faisal wanted to speak to a recruit, he would give him a missed call from a specific PCO and the recruit would then visit a pre-determined PCO phone booth where Faisal would call him up and convey instructions, sources said.
He had chosen the moniker Abu Ameen in Delhi to throw the police off his tracks. The name first cropped up during the interrogation of two LeT suspects, Mohammed Chipa and Feroz Ghaswala, both arrested by the special cell of the New Delhi police for carrying firearms and ammunition. The duo was also suspected to be involved in Delhi's Sarojini Nagar bomb blasts last Diwali.
| Chipa and Ghaswala also met LeT's commander Azam Cheema alias Baba at a training camp for militants in Bahwalpur. Baba, a professor of Islamic studies in Faisalabad, was the chief of the LeT's training wing. |
According to sources, the duo told the Delhi police that they were sent to Pakistan by one Abu Ameen. They said he was a resident of Mumbai and was in charge of sending youths to Pakistan for training. The two accused told the IB sleuths that Abu Ameen had sent many youths from Mumbai for training. Neither had his telephone numbers or his residential address. "Whenever Abu Ameen needed to, he would contact us," the duo told the police.
Chipa and Ghaswala had also met LeT's commander Azam Cheema alias Baba at a training camp for militants in Bahwalpur. Baba, a professor of Islamic studies in Faisalabad, was the chief of the LeT's training wing. Following their arrests, officers of the special cell had visited Mumbai and met the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) here to exchange notes. The case of the suspect named Abu Ameen was also raised. A description was sent to the intelligence agencies and local crime branch units. But until the blasts, Ameen remained elusive. |
A Shia cleric was shot dead in Bahwalpur on Sunday, police said. Arriving at the scene after receiving reports of the incident, police confirmed that Shia leader Syed Asif Ali Shah, a resident of Mozou Fort Abbas, was gunned down by unidentified armed assailants. The religious leader was immediately taken to Bahawal Victoria Hospital, but died on the way. Asif Ali had been working as a clerk at Commercial College Fort Abbas, where his father, Syed Ghulam Abbas Shah, serves as president Fiqa-e-Jafria Fort Abbas Tehsil. Police said that an investigation into the murder was underway, amid speculation that the killing may have been motivated by a personal enmity.