Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives Mirza Himayat Baig and Shaikh Lal Baba Mohammad Hussain Farid alias Bilal, arrested on Tuesday in connection with the Pune German Bakery blast, had indoctrinated several youths and were instrumental in setting up a wide network of terror sleeper cells across the country.
Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) interrogations of the duo has further revealed that Baig was an active member of Popular Front of India (PFI), a radical group in South India, and he had been arranging recruits for the group.
“Baig claims to have arranged and sent several youths for terrorist training. He was entrusted with the responsibility of setting up a base for the LeT in tandem with the Indian Mujahideen (IM) in Maharashtra,” said an ATS official, requesting anonymity.
The fact that ATS teams have started visiting places like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Daman, Diu, Tamil Nadu and New Delhi for investigations, clearly indicates that the he has already spread his network at these places.
Baig has also revealed that his journey from Aurangabad to Colombo via Hyderabad and Chennai started in March 2008. “Faiyaz Kagzi and one more person, believed to be an expert in assembling explosives, had met him. Kagzi and his aide were already there in Colombo then,” the official said.
Baig had undergone three weeks of training in organising recruits and bomb-making techniques in a camp in Colombo. “When Baig returned, Kagzi had given him Rs2.5 lakh to get a new identity and set up base of radicals in Maharashtra. Baig, who was already on the run because of his previous cases in Pune, had been changing his locations from Beed to Pune to Bhatkal and later settled in Udgir,” the official said.
He then rented a house for Rs24,000 for one year and purchased few computers to set up his Global Internet Cafe in Udgir, the police said.
“Baig has also revealed that he had sent Bilal to Muzaffarpur and Lahore in Pakistan to attend terrorist training camps.
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