ISI officers, NCOs trained me: Headley

WASHINGTON: Notwithstanding Pakistan's denial, LeT operative David Headley has highlighted the deep involvement of ISI in the Mumbai attacks conspiracy by revealing how he received meticulous training in espionage from its officers and agents during "thousands" of sessions.

The training, imparted in a two-storey ISI safe house in Lahore, was not like the James Bond style but focussed on ways to camouflage his identity and earn the confidence of Indians he was going to use.

Headley, a Pakistani-American, was initially imparted training by terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) for conducting reconnaissance for Mumbai attacks but his handler Major Iqbal of ISI was dissatisfied with it, following which advanced training was given to him by Iqbal and several Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) of the spy agency.

"I had been consulting with or meeting with Major Iqbal, and he was discussing what Lashkar intended to use me for, which was surveillance.

"He said that he wanted me to do something which he thought was more important, which was do intelligence work for the ISI at that time," Headley informed a Chicago court which was conducting the trial of co-accused Tahawwur Rana.

"He (Major Iqbal) looked at my notes that I had made from my LeT course, and he expressed a dissatisfaction... it was wasn't very good," Headley said in his testimony, transcript of which is available with PTI.

The instructions in spying were then given by Major Iqbal and NCOs from the ISI. Headley knew that these officials were NCOs from ISI as Major Iqbal would refer to them as sergeant or corporal or naik or lance naik.