Kasab & co used VOIP during 26/11 attack

MUMBAI: Pakistani conspirators were in constant touch with the 10 terrorists involved in the 26/11 attacks through telephone calls using VOIP service of an American company and also made several test calls prior to that, a US-based witness told a special court on Tuesday.

���Before the 26/11 attacks, people from Pakistan had made several test calls to Mumbai to ensure the quality of sound,��� the witness, the fourth US citizen to hint at Pakistani link in the case, said in a video conference from Canada.

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam later said that at least 150 test calls were made between November 24 and 26 before the attacks. The Pakistani conspirators had used VOIP (voice over internet protocol) service of Callphonex, based in New Jersey, to give an impression that calls were being made from the US and not Pakistan.

The witness, owner of Callphonex, said the VOIP account had been opened last October by a person who had identified himself as Kharak Singh from India in an email.

He is the fourth witness to reveal Pakistan���s link in the 26/11 case. The first was an FBI agent who said terrorists had used GPS to come from Karachi to Mumbai via sea route. The second, an Yamaha company official, said terrorists had used his company���s engine to power the dinghy in which they came. The third was a Nokia officer who said her company had exported mobile phones, used in the terror attack, to Pakistan.

In the court, Kasab keenly watched the deposition through the video conference and was seen frequently getting up from his seat to get a clearer view of the screen.

The witness said, on October 20 he had received an email from ���Kharak Singh��� from the account kharak-telco2yahoo.com, expressing his desire to open an account with Callphonex. ���We had provided them three facilities, 15 accounts from computer to phone, 10 common client accounts and five direct inward dialling accounts,��� the witness told prosecutor Nikam.

Mr Nikam said that besides the calls made through VOIP, the slain terrorists had also used the mobiles of victims to make calls to their handlers.