Terror suspects name ISI officer

The arrested Indian Mujahideen (IM) members have dropped the name of the person, who provided them terror-training in Pakistan. One Major Atiq, a key person in Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan, reportedly hand-trained around six IM members, including Mohammad Sadiq Shaikh, co-founder of IM.

According to crime branch, Sadiq, Mohammad Arif Shaikh, Mohammad Ansar Shaikh, Afzal Mutalib Usmani and Mohammad Zakir Shaikh had visited Pakistan sometime in 2004-05 and have received terror training there.

“Sadiq, during his interrogations, said that he met a person known as Major Atiq, a prominent man in ISI. Atiq, according to Sadiq, was given the charge to handle the training operations of those who were indoctrinated in India,” said a senior crime branch official, on condition of anonymity.

The official said most of the IM members had gone to Dubai; from there they went to Iran and entered Karachi. “Sadiq told us that, during the night when he landed in Karachi, he was made to sit in a four-wheeler and was driven to a terror camp, based two kilometers away from Karachi. Sadiq had met Atiq in this camp, where he and others had received training pertaining to terrorism. Sadiq was unable to provide us any more information about Atiq,” said the official.

Sadiq had visited Pakistan on two occassions, once for a period of nine months and then for 45 days. “While returning, he went to Kathmandu, from where he came crossing the border through roadway,” the official said.

Earlier, the police have said that Amir Raza, who is absconding, was the handler of Sadiq. “Raza is the conduit between terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and ISI. We believe Raza could still be in touch with Major Atiq,” said the officer.

Amir’s brother Asif Raza was gunned down by the Gujarat police in an encounter near Rajkot, after his name cropped up in the Kolkata’s American Center bombing.