26/11 Terrorists made 284 calls

The Mumbai Crime Branch has traced the trail of money used to get a Callphonex account, which was used by the 10 terrorists and their Lashkar-e-Tayiba handlers in Pakistan to communicate with each other during the 26/11 terror attacks.

The terrorists had made 284 calls from Mumbai to their handlers in Pakistan during the 60 hours they had laid siege to the city, the Crime Branch said.

The Crime Branch was helped by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the US in piecing the puzzle together.

According to the police, the report submitted by the FBI to the Crime Branch revealed that the nine terrorists killed by National Security Guards (NSG) commandos had used mobile phone numbers 9819464530, 9820704561 and 9910719424 to communicate with their handlers.

Records showed that calls were made to phone numbers 43720880764, 43720880767 and 43720880768, and calls were received from another number, 012012531824. The calls were made to or received from co-conspirators in Pakistan for instructions, the Crime Branch said.

Investigations also revealed that these numbers were connected to a Callphonex account. Callphonex is a VoIP (voice over internet protocol) service provider based in New Jersey, USA.

On October 20-21, 2008, an individual calling himself Kharak Singh called the company up for an account, saying he was a VoIP reseller in India. Two payments were made to Callphonex for the account. On October 27, an initial payment of $250 was wired to Callphonex via Money Gram (receipt number 80700471903880005473).

The money was sent by one Muhammad Ishfaq through Money Gram’s agent, Paracha International Exchange, located at Road Anarkali Fayazuddin in Lahore, the Crime Branch said.

According to Money Gram records, Ishfaq gave an address in Peshawar, Pakistan, as his.

On November 25, the second payment of $299 was wired to Callphonex via Western Union Money Transfer (WUMT) (receipt number 8364307716-0). The sender was one Javed Iqbal, and the money was wired through WUMT agent, Madina Trading, in Brescia, Italy.

Iqbal, who has since been arrested by the Pakistan police, had provided a copy of his Pakistani passport (number KC092481) to Madina Trading as his identity proof. Investigations found that he had communicated with Callphonex through the e-mail id, kharak_telco@yahoo.com.

Crime Branch officials said the account was accessed from 10 different IP addresses in Pakistan, Chicago, Kuwait and Russia.