Kafeel used net phone to hide tracks

BANGALORE: Investigators of the UK terror plot have hit a roadblock: Kafeel Ahmed, the suspected Glasgow airport bomber, had communicated with his counterparts through internet telephony and seldom used landline or mobile phones.

Through the internet, Kafeel might have conversed for hours as this mode of communication is not charged (only net access charges apply). These calls are very difficult to trace as the servers are based in the US and Europe, a senior investigator informed The Times of India. Kafeel made telephone calls to the UK and the UAE during his stay in Bangalore till May.

However, the investigators, who looked into the phone call list, have not yet found any evidence related to the terror plot. Kafeel rarely used his residence number and a Spice mobile number registered in his father Maqbool Ahmed’s name.

Hard disk contents Experts looking into the hard disk of Kafeel’s computer have discovered that he had saved hundreds of pictures of European buildings and cities. Kafeel,who had also travelled to Palestine, had captured pictures of streets and locations and saved these in different folders.

The experts have decoded 5,000 e-mail downloads,which are being sorted out. A database of telephone numbers has also been obtained from the disk. An officer said two copies of hard disk have been made.

These are being cracked by IISc and cyber police cell in Bangalore and C-DAC in Thiruvananthapuram. It could take at least a week to decipher the contents of the hard disk, stored in coded format by Kafeel. The investigators hope to make inroads into the terror network from the data Kafeel stored on the hard drive.