Camps, courses & cronies: Ansari talks

Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, who allegedly trained the 26/11 attackers at a camp at Baitul Mujahideen in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, has told interrogators that the camp has since been shifted to a site near Dulai, also in Muzaffarabad.

The camp is being headed by one Mir, who is married to the daughter of a senior Pakistan army officer. Since the arrest of Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, it is 26/11 accused Muzammil alias Yusuf who has been monitoring the camps, Ansari has said.

He has given details of e-mail accounts he used in chat rooms to scout for talent. He has said he taught the 10 attackers Hindi for a month in early 2008 and then for 20 days in September — months before the attack. He also coached them in nuances of behaviour and dress codes to follow when they would enter the targeted five-star hotels.

Aide in escape

Ansari, who fled to Pakistan via Bangladesh after the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul, was helped in West Bengal by a Pakistani national, Shauqat, who was then based in Kolkata, he has said. Ansari has said he had known about Shauqat since he arrived in Saudi Arabia.

"Shauqat had contacts across the border. He arranged for Ansari's passage and told him whom to meet in Bangladesh," said an official.

Investigators are preparing a report about Shauqat, who is believed to have escaped to Bangladesh, to be sent to the West Bengal Police and the Intelligence Bureau.

The Pakistan phase

Ansari stayed in Bangladesh for about a month before leaving for Pakistan. He has said he received training (Daura-e-Aam) for 21 days in 2006, after which he was sent to Baitul Mujahideen and trained for one-and-a-half months (Daura-e-Khas). At the Miyavali training centre, Pakistan army and ISI officers helped him practise extensively with AK 47s, machine guns and pistols, he has said. Ansari also attended Daura-e-Shura and Daura-e-Rikab courses for gathering intelligence and making explosives. In Rawalpindi, where he settled after his marriage, Ansari ran an agency engaged in sale and purchase of second-hand cars.

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