Ex-servicemen recruited by Headley under terror scanner

NIA investigates if former Indian armed forces personnel were sent abroad by terror suspect to train militants

NIA investigates if former Indian armed forces personnel were sent abroad by terror suspect to train militants

National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths are running a background check on hundreds of security personnel with military backgrounds recruited by terror suspect David Coleman Headley (49) and his suspected handler Tahawwur Hussain Rana (48) a few days before the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

Headley placed ads in Mumbai newspapers for security personnel with a background in the armed forces.

"A large number of candidates, who were selected and sent overseas could have been made to work for terror outfits," Crime Branch sources said.

Officials suspect that Headley's Immigrant Law Centre office at Tardeo AC Market was a front used to headhunt volunteers for terror camps in war-torn areas in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Investigators also discovered that Headley and his associate Tahawwur Rana booked all their phones, landline as well as mobile, and three cars, in the name of their employees, including a woman named Maroo Rohington.

Aftermath: A policeman surveys the scene at CST station after 58 people were killed by terrorists on November 26, 2008. Headley, a suspected al-Qaeda operative, was actively recruiting Indian u00a0ex-servicemen a few days before the attacks occurred.

"The Federal Bureau of Investigation's tech-savvy Joint Terrorism Task Force has been requested to investigate if a satellite phone was used by Headley and Rana to talk to associates," said a Crime Branch source.

A senior police officer informed this reporter that Headley's itinerary in the last few months is being tracked through the mobile phone towers he passed by during his travels in the period. Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Rakesh Maria was not available for comment.