Calls from Pak to Mumbai, via America

Investigations have revealed that Lashkar-e-Tayyeba handlers based in Pakistan called the 10 terrorists in Mumbai on their cellphones using Voice Over Internet Protocol, reports Tushar Srivastava.

A US angle has emerged in investigations of the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack case.

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Investigations have revealed that Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (army of the pure) handlers based in Pakistan called the 10 terrorists in Mumbai on their cellphones using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). The calls from Pakistan to Mumbai were routed using a computerised telephone exchange based somewhere in the US.

The information, intelligence sources said, will be shared with the FBI team in India.

Using VOIP, Lashkar bosses could talk to all 10 terrorists at the same time. However, tele-conferencing wasn’t possible.

“Help from the FBI is be needed to trace the telephone exchange in the US,” a senior official said.

If someone from India, the official said, tries to call back on the number from which the terrorists were being called, they won’t be able to get beyond the telephone exchange, which was routing the calls.

“To use VOIP and route calls through such an exchange, money has to be deposited in advance. Once the exchange verifies the identity of the person it would connect to the desired number be it anywhere in the world,” the official said.

“If we get the desired cooperation from the US we would get invaluable evidence, which would help build a watertight case against Lashkar and expose Pakistan’s claims that it’s territory has not been used for anti-India activities. It won’t just provide us with irrefutable evidence that calls were being made from Pakistan to the exchange in US, which routed them to India but also information about the person who approached the exchange and deposited money with them,” the official said.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has promised all possible support to India in investigations of the 26/11 attacks and track down the perpetrators.