Two serving Pakistani Army officers, Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali, were actively involved in handling Headley, directed the terror plots, and that Major Iqbal handed him $25,000 before sending him to India, reports Indian Express.
The FBI dossier on David Coleman Headley, the Lashkar-e-Toiba operative charged in United States with helping plan the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes, states that two serving Pakistani Army officers, Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali, were actively involved in handling Headley, directed the terror plots, and that Major Iqbal handed him $25,000 before sending him to India.
Sources said the Headley dossier shared with India also states that Abdurrehman Syed, a Lashkar commander, was attached to 6 Baloch of the Pak Army. He joined the Lashkar in 2002. It is believed that Syed and another Lashkar commander, Sajid Mir, with whom Headley was in regular touch, were part of a reconnaissance mission to India in April, 2004.
The FBI learnt that Headley made as many as eight trips to India as a Lashkar operative between September 2006 and July 2008 and once after the Mumbai terror attacks — in March 2009 — for reconnaissance of potential targets. Headley was said to have joined the Lashkar in 1999, motivated by speeches of Lashkar founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.
After his initiation, Headley underwent training from 2002 to 2004. He wanted to go to Kashmir but Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Lashkar operations commander, had other ideas. It was on Lakhvi's direction that Headley visited India eight times for reconnaissance work.
Unlike Headley, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, his alleged accomplice, visited India only once — a week before the Mumbai terror attacks.Headley surveyed 30 potential targets and submitted details and photographs to his handlers. These included:
* Hotels Taj and Oberoi, Leopold Cafe, Nariman House and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus
* He was specifically told to do a recce of the Ruby Room, Crystal Ballroom at the Taj
* Shiv Sena headquarters
* Siddhivinayak temple
* Maharashtra Assembly
* Bombay Stock Exchange
* Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
* World Trade Centre, Mumbai
National Defence College, New Delhi.
