Mumbai Terror Carnage: Now Breakthrough from Italy as well
By Animesh Roul
In about less than a week, India will mark the first anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks. After the US’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s Chicago breakthrough, now Italy has achieved some headway in the investigations relating to last year’s terror events(26/11).
The Italian police have arrested, after almost a year long monitoring and surveillance, two Pakistani nationals (Father and Son duo) from Brescia city who are accused of sending funds from their money transfer agency and providing the logistical support to Pakistani terrorists. The suspects Mohammad Yaqub Janjua and Aamer Yaqub Janjua, owners of the Madina Trading telephone centre and a Western Union branch, were identified by the Mumbai’s terror investigating agencies and FBI earlier. Since then both were under constant surveillance. They were accused for transferring money (approx USD 229 on November 25, just a day before the carnage) under a false name to pay fees for the Voiceover Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone service which was used by the terrorists during the three-day terror attack.
In early this year (in Feb 2009), Mohammed Janjua denied the accusation when his name cropped up in the Mumbai investigation dossier and attempted to come clean. He instead blamed another suspect arrested in Pakistan that time, Javed Iqbal, a resident of Barcelona (Spain) who travelled to Brescia and transferred money to a US address in New Jersey in the name of Nizar al-Sharif. The money was used in buying five telephones, three of which were used by the terrorists and handlers in the Mumbai attacks.
Of course the Italian police have to do more digging in to this whole web of terror, taking Yaqubs into custody now.
Meanwhile, some disturbing reports are emerging from Pakistan about the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai terror attacks, Lashkar e Taiba/ and the banned charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa’s chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed who is moving around freely in Pakistan’s territory giving sermons on Muslim revival and anti-Americanism to people at the Jamia al-Qadsia mosque in Lahore.
Read More CTB Posts on the events here.
