Green Terrorists from Red Fort

Keralite among Rana aides

VR Jayaraj | Kochi – Daily Pioneer

The Kerala Police have learnt that certain Malayalee agents of the LeT operating in foreign countries had close connections with Tahawwur Hussein Rana, the main perpetrator behind the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. They have received clinching evidence to prove that KK Sabir alias Ayub of Kannur was a close associate of Rana.

According to sources in the police, Sabir, 13th accused in the Kalamassery bus-burning case, had visited Rana in his hotel room in Iran prior to his arrest by the American Federal Bureau of Investigations. An Indian passport in the name of Shamir had been confiscated from this hotel room, and it is assumed that this was one of the passports used by Sabir for his travels abroad.

Reports say that the association was so close that the duo had made several journeys together. It is also said that Sabir, who had kept close contact with Thadiyantavide Nazeer, LeT’s South India commander, used to visit Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. Sabir is said to be hiding in Dubai presently, and the Kerala Police have already started efforts to smoke him out of his den.

The terror operative from Kannur is said to be one of the four main Malayalee agents of the LeT working in the Gulf and West Asia. The others in the group are, according to police, Shafiq Tandon from Kannur, Omar Farooq, a native of Parappanangadi, Malappuram and KM Anup of Ernakulam. Farooq is also one of the accused in the Kalamassery bus-burning case.

It is reported that Sabir, an engineering graduate, could have played a role in the “harmless” pipe bomb blast at the Ernakulam district collectorate building off Kochi on July 10. However, the purpose of the low-intensity explosion was yet to be ascertained. That the explosive materials used in the pipe bomb were of international terrorist grade had suggested that the blast could have been a “dry run” for some bigger terror strike as in the case of the 2006 twin explosions in Kozhikode city.

The Kerala Police had been able to gather clues regarding these people earlier, but confirmation had come from Nazeer during his interrogation in Bangalore. It is also said that these men had been getting their assignments from top terror man CAM Basheer, who is believed to be living presently in Dubai or Saudi Arabia. Sabir was also the link between Basheer and Nazeer, sources said.

The police have learnt that Sabir had been using two passports, one in own name and one in the name of Shamir, son of Alikkutty of Aluva. Sources said that Sabir had bought from Shamir the passport he had taken with the plan of migrating to the Gulf for employment, by paying him money. Sabir is also an accused in the case relating to the planting of a bomb in the Coimbatore Press Club.

Sources also said that it was Sabir who had received the five Malayalee militants, recruited to LeT by Nazeer and his associates in Kerala, to be sent to Pakistan for terror training in Delhi and reached them to Kashmir. Four of these militants were killed in encounter with the security forces in Kupwara in October, 2008 while one escaped the action with injuries.

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