The state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which is probing the 13/7 Mumbai serial blasts case, on Tuesday claimed that one of the four persons arrested in the case, Haroon Rashid Naik, had met the slain Al Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden, during his terror training in Pakistan, a month before the 9/11 attack in America. The ATS further claimed that Naik, who also later fought for Al Qaeda in Kandahar, had met Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the conspirator of the 26/11 attack in Pakistan.
Elaborating on Naik’s profile in the terror world, a senior ATS officer said that back in early 2001, he was sent to Pakistan by Riyaz Bhatkal, one of the founders of Indian Mujahideen (IM), for training.
“In Pakistan, he met Aftab Ansari, who faces a death sentence for the 2002 attack on the American Centre in Kolkata. Ansari was also involved in the kidnapping of shoe baron Partha Roy Burman in 2001,” the officer said.
During the same time, Naik had also met Shaikh Omar, a 9/11 suspect also involved in the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Earlier, in 1999, Shaikh was released from captivity and provided safe passage to Afghanistan with Taliban support in exchange for passengers aboard the hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814.
“During his Daura-e-Khaas training in Bahawalpur in Pakistan, Naik also met 26/11 mastermind Zaki Ur Rehman Lakhvi. In August 2001, Laden visited the camp where he delivered a lecture to Naik’s batch; Naik was the only Indian in the batch with the rest being foreigners,” said the ATS officer.
Naik, who was swept away by Laden’s lecture, expressed his desire for jihad to Omar, following which he was sent to Kandahar in Afghanistan for a 40-day training programme. It was here that he also fought for the Al-Qaeda, but returned to Pakistan soon after 9/11 attack.
Naik, claims ATS, is an important link to establish the connection of the IM with other terrorist outfits such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Al-Qaeda.
Naik is a Industrial Training Institute diploma-holder in digital electronics from Ulhasnagar and is third among the four siblings, including a sister who has died. “Naik, who at the time of his arrest from the airport last year said he was working with a construction firm in Jeddah, also played a crucial role in funding the 13/7 blasts,” said the ATS officer.
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