Kerala ATS questions Omar Madani

The anti-terror squad of the Kerala Police on Thursday questioned Lashkar-e-Tayyeba operative Muhammad Omar Madani in the custody of the Delhi Police, who had arrested him early last month from near the Kutb Minar. Sources indicated that the sleuths of the Kerala Police had got crucial information from the terror man in the interrogation.

According to sources, Omar Madani confirmed to the ATS that he had plans to recruit educated young men, who could swim and drive boats, from the coastal areas of Kerala. The plan was to carry out Mumbai-model terror operations in the coastal cities and towns of India, it was said. Information was that he also told them that one Ummer Haji was in charge of recruiting youth from South India, including Kerala, to the terror network.

Omar Madani had reportedly told the ATS that he had been familiar with Shibili from Eerattupetta, who was said to be the organizer of the SIMI training camp at Vagamon hill resort in Idukki district in December 2007. The ATS also asked him whether he had any connections with the four Malayalee terror men killed by security forces in Kupwara sector in Kashmir last October.

The Kerala ATS questioned Omar Madani to examine whether he could have visited Kerala for recruiting youths in 2007 or 2008. The Kerala Home Department has asked the ATS, headed by Deputy Inspector General TK Vinod Kumar, to work closely with the Central Intelligence Bureau and the Intelligence wing of the State police in the matter. Sources in the Kerala Police had earlier said that there was every possibility that Omar Madani had visited the State to personally supervise the recruitment of youths to LeT.

The ATS had come across the name of one Madani, who had made frequent appearance in Kannur district. There were reports that this Madani could have been none but PDP chairman Abdul Nasser Madani. Still, several investigators had pointed out that it was unlikely that Abdul Nasser Madani, confined to a wheelchair due to his crippled condition and perpetually under police guard, could not have made such visits and held secret meetings. The PDP chairman himself had raised this point when such allegations had come up.

Though the police were yet to be convinced of the truth of this argument, they were now of the feeling that the Madani who had held meetings in Kannur and elsewhere during the peak time of youths’ recruitment to LeT and Indian Mujahiddeen could have been Omar Muhammad, the Nepalese citizen from Bihar. Preliminary assumption was that Omar Madani had recruited as many as 30 young men from India into the LeT.

The Kerala ATS had held extensive enquiries in Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kannur districts for their examinations on Omar Madani as information was that he had planned to recruit youths from the coastal areas and who could drive boats and handle explosives.