Terror outfits using Saudi Arabia as base to plan strikes, say investigators

The arrest of three IM suspects for alleged involvement in the J M Road blasts has yet again revealed Saudi Arabia emerging as a base for terror modules to carry out strikes in India.

Recent arrests from across the country and investigations that followed suggest that LeT, Huji and IM have come together in Saudi Arabia to train terror recruits from India, say investigating agencies.

According to Delhi police, suspects Sayyed Feroze of Pune, Imran Khan of Nanded and Asad Khan of Aurangabad had gone to Saudi Arabia several times to meet LeT operative Fayyaz Kagzi.

Asad Khan came to know about Kagzi operating from Saudi Arabia in August 2009. Investigators added that he made phone calls to Saudi Arabia and sent emails to contact Kagzi, a native of Beed in Maharashta who has been on the run after his name cropped up in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.

Kagzi is believed to have introduced Asad to IM founders Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal. Investigations by Maharashtra ATS revealed that alleged LeT operative Himayat Baig, the only suspect arrested in the German Bakery blast case, was trained in Colombo in 2008 by Kagzi and his aide Zaibuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, a prime suspect in several terror acts including the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

Investigators believe the two top terror handlers later shifted to Saudi Arabia for further their operations with the help of Pakistan's ISI. They said interrogation of Jundal, deported from Saudi Arabia and arrested in June, revealed the presence of Kagzi and suspects like Fasih Mohammed wanted for Chinnaswamy stadium blast in Bangalore, in Saudi Arabia.

The arrest and interrogation of 18 terror suspects including five from Nanded in Maharashtra also revealed terror modules operating in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra on the instructions of handlers in Saudi Arabia linked to LeT and Huji.

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