RAW drags 26/11 terrorist Jundal to India

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India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, has managed to get Syed Zabiuddin Ansari, alias Abu Jundal, deported from Saudi Arabia. Jundal’s arrest is viewed as the biggest catch after Ajmal Kasab in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and confirms the Indian link to the 26/11 conspiracy hatched in Pakistan.

Highly placed intelligence sources said Jundal was deported on Thursday after he was picked up by Saudi intelligence agencies more than two months ago on a specific tip-off from RAW.

Immediately after he landed at New Delhi’s IGI Airport, Jundal was formally arrested by the Delhi police special cell as intelligence agencies don’t have the authority to arrest a person. Jundal, sources claimed, was escorted by top intelligence officials.

One reason why Jundal’s deportation took time was that when caught he posed as a Pakistani national and was even carrying a fake Pakistani passport in the name of Riyasat Ali.

“It took a while to even confirm that he was actually Jundal,” a top intelligence official said. Indian intelligence agencies had been tracking Jundal for almost three years before zeroing in on him in Saudi Arabia.

Sources said Jundal, during the time he was followed, made several trips to Pakistan and West Asia on his fake Pakistani passport.

Jundal is said to be part of the six-member core team of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba which trained the militants to carry out what would become the worst and most audacious terror attack suffered by India.

He not only trained them in speaking fluent Hindi, but was part of strategic planning, including identifying the targets for the attack. He also tried to teach the terrorists a bit of Marathi.

Sources said Jundal accompanied the terrorists in boats till the beginning of Indian waters. Originally from Maharashtra’s Beed district, he was familiar with Mumbai, having set up a formidable network of sleeper cells there, and was also involved in the 2006 train bombings. He is also wanted in connection with the attack on the IISc in Bengaluru and a gun-running racket in Aurangabad.

His name also figured in the German Best Bakery blast in Pune and the Ahmedabad blasts. Abu Jundal was in constant touch with the terror module that attacked the Chabad House in Mumbai, giving them instructions on a cell phone from Lashkar’s control room.

What helped intelligence agencies identify Jundal from the voice samples was that his Hindi was very accented.