Catching Mohammed Ahmed Zarar Siddibappa, better known as Yasin Bhatkal, was no walk in the park.
One of India's most wanted terrorists, Bhatkal kept a hop, skip and jump ahead of India's intelligence agencies for five years.
Intelligence
sources have revealed that Bhatkal used several phones, frequently
changing numbers as well as devices, to ensure he could not be tracked.
It wasn't just
cellphones he relied on, often resorting to using booths for local calls
and writing letters to relatives and associates in India and abroad.
"We managed to track him down
through the phone calls and his correspondence through letters. We also
used a strong network of human intelligence to trace him to his hideout
in the interiors of Nepal near Pokhra," said a home ministry official.
Sources said Bhatkal's call
details reveal that he was constantly in touch with Indian Mujahideen
(IM) leaders in Pakistan as well as some people in Dubai.
The
National Investigation Agency (NIA) has meanwhile, got Bhatkal to Delhi
from Patna. The agency has been given Bhatkal's custody for 12 days so
as to interrogate him and his close aide Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi.
Both
were arrested at Raxaul in Bihar near the Indo-Nepal border early on
Thursday morning. NIA sources said Bhatkal has not revealed much so far.
"He seems to be a
hard nut to crack and is not speaking much. He has given information
about IM's top leadership in Pakistan but is silent about the group's
strategy and plans," said an official.
Bhatkal
will be grilled about his possible role in the Dilsukhnagar attack in
Hyderbad in February and the recent bomb explosions in the Mahabodhi
temple complex at Gaya, Bihar.
Sources
said while he mentioned atrocities of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar he
denied any involvement in the Bodh Gaya explosions.
Indian intelligence agencies also had information about Bhatkal planning a visit to Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh.
Sources said the reason for his visit is not known.
"We will interrogate
him about his plans to visit Dharamshala," said a source. Sources said
Bhatkal has confirmed that top IM operatives Riyaz Bhatkal and Iqbal
Bhatkal are in Pakistan, Riyaz in Karachi while Iqbal shuttles between
Karachi and Dubai.
The
third top IM commander Amir Reza Khan, according to Bhatkal, is running
terror camps in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Bhatkal and Akhtar are brought to
Delhi by NIA officials in a special plane
Top IM operative Yasin Bhatkal, seen removing his face mask while in
custody, has reportedly confessed to the ISI giving patronage to the terror outfit
Information about IM's
Pakistan network would be useful but Indian agencies are more interested
in information about the Bhatkal's network across the country.
"He
is said to be the head of IM operations within India. We believe he
will have explosive information that can dismantle the entire group,"
said an intelligence official.
THE EIDI CLUE
The
Rs 1 lakh eidi (Eid gift) Yasin Bhatkal sent to his Delhi-based wife
before Eid, celebrated earlier this month, perhaps proved to be his
undoing and gave away his Nepal hideout.
This transfer of money, which was done through normal banking channels, alerted sleuths of the IB, who suspected Bhatkal may have been planning to enter India to carry out a terror attack or flee from his hideout at Pokhra.
This transfer of money, which was done through normal banking channels, alerted sleuths of the IB, who suspected Bhatkal may have been planning to enter India to carry out a terror attack or flee from his hideout at Pokhra.
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