India asks FBI for voice samples of terror talk

Indian investigators have asked the FBI for samples of intercepted conversations between Lashkar-e-Tayyeba operative David Coleman Headley and his Pak-based handlers.

Indian investigators have asked the FBI for samples of intercepted conversations between Lashkar-e-Tayyeba operative David Coleman Headley and his Pak-based handlers.

Investigators want to match the voice samples with the FBI with intercepts of Ajmal Kasab and the nine other terrorists taking instructions from their handlers during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

Intelligence agencies have come around to the view that Headley and his associate Tahawwur Hussain Rana were linked to LeT leaders who executed the Mumbai mayhem last year and part of the larger LeT game plan.

But the National Investigation Agency needs evidence before it can charge them with conspiring in last year’s attacks that killed more than 173 people.

An intelligence official said it wasn’t a coincidence that Headley and Rana arrested last month by the FBI were in Pakistan during the 26/11 attacks.

“There is evidence to indicate Headley and Rana were in touch with Lashkar commanders like Zarar Shah — already wanted in the 26/11 attacks,” a senior intelligence official said.

“It does seem that the two were part of the larger LeT game plan but at the moment, we are collecting evidence to make a conclusive case,” the official, who did not want to be named, said.