Mumbai: ‘Terror planners had a budget, outsourced operation to locals’

Mumbai: In the city terror conspiracy case, the state anti-terrorism squad (ATS) has prima facie found some incriminating documents which indicate the alleged planners had allotted a budget for executing their conspiracy. Moreover, it has reportedly come to light that most people involved in the plot were not known to one another and the operation was outsourced to local suspects.
Last week, ATS arrested two persons—Zakir Shaikh from Jogeshwari and Rizwan Momin from Mumbra. Shaikh, a Class IX dropout, is a taxi driver while Momin is a tuition teacher. On September 17, the ATS registered an FIR under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA)’s Section 18 for criminal conspiracy to commit a terrorist act against Shaikh and his alleged foreign handler Anthony alias Anas alias Anwar alias Annu.
ATS officials said those arrested in Mumbai were in contact with Anthony who received instructions from elsewhere. The officials said during the probe, they prima facie found allocation of a budget by the engineers of the terror module. “We are trying to get exact details about budgeting in this conspiracy case,” said Vineet Agarwal, additional director-general of police and the state ATS chief.
Another official said the accused undertook orders for money. “It is like ‘A’ outsourced the terror job for execution to ‘B’ who in turn contacted C (a group of local suspects) to get the job done. Hence, C doesn’t know A. The local accused were told that they would be paid,” the official said, adding, “Outsourcing of the terror task has also come to our knowledge and we are verifying the details available with us.” When asked how much money was paid to the local suspects, the officer said the probe was at a crucial stage and they could not divulge the details.
Special cell sleuths from Delhi police’s anti-terror wing had visited the ATS office and questioned Shaikh and Momin. While Shaikh allegedly had been in touch with Anthony for some time, he gave his mobile phone to Momin to destroy, sensing police could reach him. Momin allegedly broke the phone and threw it in a drain near his house. “Not only Shaikh but also Momin was in touch with Anthony. We are waiting for the cyber forensic report and retrieval of data from the broken phone to get more details,” said an official.
With ATS focusing on certain documents, the probe is widening to two other states. “Shaikh was to visit Lucknow, so we are collecting information about the trip and whom he was to meet. Moreover, an important document, sent from another state to Shaikh, has been recovered. We got crucial information from it,” said an official. After arresting the duo, the ATS has so far questioned around 15 youths.