Faizal Sheikh’s Pak links, finances are being probed.
MUMBAI: With Faizal Sheikh, Kamal Ansari, and Tanveer Ansari beginning to reveal information, the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) are hoping to close in on other sleeper cell operatives of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.
DNA had reported on July 27 that the ATS had identified two more LeT sleeper cells. Faizal, Kamal, and Tanveer are thought to have belonged to one such.
Investigators are trying to ascertain details about sleeper terror modules and their “compartmental” structure and functioning.
IB and ATS officers told DNA that the three detainees know how members belonging to a couple of LeT’s local terror modules networked.
ATS officers said Faizal was a front-ranking official, though perhaps not the head, of Lashkar’s western India operations, and had visited Pakistan to receive “advanced training”.
A source said he was close to a section of the LeT’s top commanders and could have been privy to plans. He is believed to have sent at least 10 people for training to terror camps in Pakistan.
The investigators are also digging into Faizal’s activities as a fundraiser. “It is too difficult to trace cash routed through illegal money remittance systems such as havala, but we are prepared to go deep into this,” an intelligence officer said.
A senior ATS officer said, “We first came across definite inputs about the structure and attributes of existing sleeper modules after Kamal Ansari’s interrogation. We got a clearer picture from Tanveer and Faizal.”
Joint Commissioner of Police KP Raghuvanshi, who heads the ATS, said investigations so far suggest that Faizal, Tanveer, and Kamal are part of one module.
It has emerged that a couple of sleeper modules became “active” ahead of 11/7 under instruction from a section of Lashkar’s Pakistan- and PoK-based command.
Meanwhile, ATS officers said Muzzamil Sheikh, Faizal’s brother and another accused, forged documents to undergo software training. “He was out of a job in Bangalore for the past three months,” Raghuvanshi said.
