Terror in 'cells' of terrorists!

Sumir Kaul

Mumbai, Dec 2 (PTI The terrorists behind the Mumbai
attacks procured with ease five cell phone SIM cards -- three
from Delhi and two from West Bengal, according to
interrogation records of the only arrested ultra, revealing
how they cocked a snook at the stringent rules.

Three cards were purchased from Delhi's Karol Bagh area
while two were picked up from West Bengal's 24 Parganas
district, the records showed.

Mohammad Ajmal Amir Iman has told interrogators that
right through the fighting, the Lashkar-e-Taiba headquarters
in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir(PoK) remained very much in touch
with them, frequently calling their mobile phones via a
voice-over-Internet service.

The government last year imposed strict rules on the
issuance of SIM cards by cellular services operators following
the Mecca Masjid blasts in Hyderabad in May, where terrorists
had regularly used cell phones to trigger Improvised Explosive
Devices(IED) and sent text messages to their handlers in
Pakistan.

Not only mobiles and SIM cards, Iman has told his
investigators that he was part of a group of ten which also
had one state-of-the art global positioning system (GPS) set
through which they were conveying the scene outside the Taj
hotel (as shown live on TV channels) to their LeT bosses in
PoK.

And, inside the landmark hotel they were communicating
among themselves on cell phones which they had snatched from
people who were taken hostage, he has revealed.

In fact, the group, which was to leave for Mumbai on
September 15, was ordered to hold back for reasons "unknown"
to Iman. They finally headed for their destination late on
November 22 after getting the green signal, each armed with a
Kalashnikov rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition and grenades.