Two cellphones found from Ansari are key to his links in India,Pak

Ansari has told his interrogators that one of the main tasks he was given in Saudi Arabia was to create a base with only Indian youths.

Two cellphones,which the Special Cell has recovered from the possession of Syed Zabiuddin Ansari,are among the main evidence that will establish his links with his associates in India and in Pakistan. Sources said the data in the phones was intact and that at least four numbers in the contact list were from Maharashtra.

Ansari has told his interrogators that one of the main tasks he was given in Saudi Arabia was to create a base with only Indian youths. During interrogation,he also confessed that he had first fled to Bangladesh from India and then entered Pakistan in 2006. His revelation during interrogation,which includes the presence of ISI officials in the Karachi control room,is being put on paper and that will be one of the crucial evidence which will link Pakistan to 26\11.

When quizzed about the temporary control room in Karachi,the sources said Ansari said it was at a place near the airport. He has confirmed the presence of ISI officials inside the control room during 26\11. They were actively coordinating with the terrorists. He has claimed that the control room was between an army cantonment area and the airport in Karachi, said a source.

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Ansari also revealed that a few weeks after Kasabs revelation about Pakistani officials involved in the attack,he along with the other handlers were forced to leave Pakistan. In May 2010,he was issued a Pakistani passport through which he fled to Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia,there was another Pakistani national who resided with him but a few months later the other person fled Saudi Arabia on the pretext that he had some work back home, added the source. Senior police officials of the Special Cell said Ansari gave a lot of information to the sleuths about the sleeper cells active in the country. A team of the Mumbai Police has already approached the Tiz Hazari court to seek custody of Ansari.

Ansari,an alleged operative of the LeT was formally arrested by the Special Cell from the IGI airport on June 21. He is in police custody till July 5. The Special Cell headquarters in Lodhi Colony where he has been kept has been fortified since his arrest. Media persons and outsiders have been barred from entering the main office.

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