British spy agency MI5’s alert in July 2009 led to US’s arrest of Headley, Rana

The attack was allegedly being planned in retaliation against the publication of certain cartoons in 2005, which he and his handlers deemed as anti-Islamic

A timely tip-off from British counter-intelligence agency MI5 to their counterparts in the US led to the eventual arrest of David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Rana in 2009 – the childhood friends turned terrorists have been accused of planning the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Indian counter-terror officials familiar with the case told HT.

British spy agency MI5’s alert in July 2009 led to US’s arrest of Headley, Rana

Rana, 64, was extradited to India from the US last week.

In July 2009, MI5 officials shared intelligence with the US regarding Pakistan-origin US citizen Headley’s suspicious terror-scouting activities, the officials said. Headley was eventually arrested three months later in Chicago, US, on October 3, 2009, and Rana, 15 days after that.

It was during Headley’s trip to Derby, United Kingdom (UK), in July 2009, that his terror activities related to the planned attack at a newspaper’s premises in Denmark came to be known to the sleuths of MI5. During this trip, Headley had allegedly met two purported contacts to procure their collaboration to carry out a terror attack at Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten’s offices in Copenhagen and Arhus, to target its editor, a cartoonist and other staffers.

The attack was allegedly being planned in retaliation against the publication of certain cartoons in 2005, which he and his handlers in the two terror outfits, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat -ul-Jihad Islami (HuJi), deemed as anti-Islamic. One of the two contacts Headley had met in Derby was allegedly an MI5 asset and on learning about the brewing terror conspiracy, the British intelligence officials alerted their US counterparts, a counter-terror official told HT on condition of anonymity. “It was only on being alerted by the British intelligence about Headley’s terror-scouting activities that the US anti-terror authorities could swing into action,” the official said.

After the British alert, the US authorities immediately placed Headley under close-surveillance, bugging his car and communication devices, in July 2009. This ultimately led to his arrest on October 3, 2009, at Chicago’s O’Hare international airport at a time when he was allegedly on way to Pakistan to meet his handlers with 10 short videos of Copenhagen, including of the Jyllands - Posten building, the official said. Based on Headley’s interrogations, Rana, a Pakistan army deserter who had studied at Pakistan’s military school, Cadet College in Attock district, was arrested on October 18, as a co-accused over suspicions related to their abetting in the planning of terror attacks overseas.

Earlier in January 2009, Headley had travelled to Copenhagen and Rana had allegedly arranged portions of his travel. In late July 2009, Headley travelled again to Copenhagen and to other locations in Europe, and Rana again arranged portions of his travel, according to US Department of Justice.

In NIA’s probe into the case, there were 9 accused in all, including Headley and Rana, and seven absconding Pakistani accused. Headley’s alleged handlers like LeT’s Sajid, LeT’s founder Hafiz Saeed, the 26/11 co-mastermind and top operative Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, ex-Pak army major Abdur Rehman Pasha, ISI’s Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali and HuJI’s then top Pakistani operative Ilyas Kashmiri were named as co- accused. NIA’s probe is related to the larger conspiracy of LeT and HuJI to organise “spectacular terrorist attacks” on places of iconic importance in India.

Headley and Rana were arrested in October 2009, that is around a year after the Mumbai attacks of November 2008 by 10 LeT suicide attackers. It later transpired that Headley had already visited Mumbai and other places in India during March 2009, his ninth visit to the country, and Denmark and other countries in Europe, to scout for potential terror attacks, the officials said.

By the time he was arrested, Headley told investigators that had interrogated him in June 2010 in the United States (US), that one of the 26/11 masterminds and top Pakistani LeT commander Sajid Majid alias Sajid Mir alias Wasi, had already tasked him to make another trip to India to scout for future targets.

“Headley had revealed that Sajid Majid wrote to him that Zakiur Lakhvi alias Chacha and Hafiz Saeed alias Bade Chacha, were both in jail in Pakistan after the 26/11 attacks but were doing fine and Sajid had got clearance to launch another attack in India,” the counter -terror official said.

“The conspiracy was hatched in or around 2005 by the leaders of LeT and HuJI to organise spectacular terrorist attacks on sensitive iconic targets in India over a long period of time,” an NIA source said. “Headley and Rana were placed in a position where they could work for providing tactical, material and financial support in planning for terror attacks in India and other places. Headley had the advantage of Caucasian looks, American upbringing / accent and American citizenship. Rana had the benefit of a network, thanks to his immigration consultancy in Chicago, First World International Services,” the NIA source said.