26/11: Lakhvi remanded to 14-day custody

NEW DELHI: Lashkar-e-Toiba���s operational commander and a handler of marine jihadis, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, and five other suspects in the Mumbai attack case have been sent to 14-day remand by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court near Islamabad. Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had sought the physical remand of the six suspects, according to Pakistan���s Geo TV.

Lakhvi is a founder member of the LeT and has worked under several aliases as the group���s supreme operational commander. According to US officials, Lakhvi had directed the group���s operations in Kashmir, Chechnya, Bosnia and Iraq. Also known as Abdullah Azam, he hails from Okara district in Punjab province, where Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only militant captured live in the Mumbai attacks, was also born and raised. Kasab had identified Lakhvi as one of his LeT contacts and admitted to undergoing training at several militant camps in Pakistan, including one near Muzaffarabad.

Citing unnamed foreign office sources, the channel said Rawalpindi���s anti-terrorism court granted physical remand of the suspects into the FIA custody on Saturday. The judge issued the order after reviewing evidence produced by the investigative agency against them, the sources were quoted as saying. The judge recorded the suspects��� statements before sending them to physical remand, the report said.

Meanwhile, ������Dawn��� quoting an unnamed security official, reported that the suspects, including Lakhvi, were produced before judge Sakhi Mohammed Kahut of the anti-terrorism court at an undisclosed location. FIA is expected to submit a charge-sheet against the suspects at the end of the remand, it said. The agency has already conducted preliminary investigations into the case.