ISI paid Rs 25L to LeT to buy boat for 26/11 attack: Headley

NEW DELHI: In revelations that clearly show ISI role in the 26/11 attacks, Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley has told his interrogators that the Pakistani intelligence agency had paid Rs 25 lakh to LeT to purchase a boat which terrorists used to travel from Karachi.

Headley also identified through voice sample test two ISI officers who handled the 10 terrorists who carried out 60-hour attack in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.

Giving these bits of information on the basis of interrogation of Headley carried out by an NIA team recently, official sources here said the ISI role in the attack was very clear from the revelations made by the LeT operative who is in the custody of FBI.

The ISI had paid Rs 25 lakh to Lashkar-e Taiba (LeT) terror outfit for purchase of a boat which was used by the 26/11 attackers to travel from Karachi to the Pakistani maritime boundary, where they hijacked an Indian fishing boat 'Kuber' to reach Mumbai.
Sources said Indian investigators also have information that chief of ISI Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha had met one of the handlers of the Mumbai attack, Sajjid Mir, who is currently in a Pakistani jail.

"All these information have been shared by India with Pakistan through the multiple dossiers given to it," a source said.

Home Secretary G K Pillai had earlier stated that ISI was "literally controlling and coordinating the (Mumbai) attack from beginning to end".

Headley, who is currently in US custody, had done the recce of several terror targets in Mumbai during his multiple visits to India for the LeT which carried out the 26/11 attack.