Two arrested for providing SIMs to Mumabai Attackers

In a possible breakthrough in the Mumbai terror probe, two persons, a trader from Srinagar and another from Kolkata, were arrested for allegedly buying mobile SIM cards on fake IDs which were used by terrorists during the November 26 siege.

Mukhtar Ahmed Sheikh and Tauseef Rehman were arrested by the Kolkata police on Friday night. The two men are alleged to have supplied SIM cards to the group of 10 gunmen who attacked Mumbai last week, leaving around 200 people dead and more than 300 injured.

Mukhtar Ahmed is a Jammu & Kashmir police constable and was staying in Kolkata for the past few months, as per initial reports received. He was arrested from Delhi by the Kolkata police. At least 37 SIM cards were procured from Kolkata and adjacent areas and sent to Pakistan in the last two months, some of which security agencies believed were used during the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

The cards were purchased mainly from Park Street in Kolkata, Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district and Santoshpur in South 24 Parganas district. The owners of shops from where the SIMs were bought were detained for interrogation.

"The cards were purchased in lieu of some extra money. We suspect that this was to create a SIM card pool from which three were used in Mumbai attack," the source said.

The Mumbai police have traced five SIM cards used in the Mumbai attack of which three were procured from West Bengal. Earlier reports suggested that the satellite phone recovered from the abandoned trawler Kuber contained crucial terrorist information.

Satellite phone had records of conversation between LeT Chief in Mujaffarabad and Yahya in Bangladesh. There were also reports that Yahya arranged fake IDs and SIM cards for Mumbai terror operation from Mauritius, US and UK. The cards were purchased mainly from Park Street in Kolkata, Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district and Santoshpur in South 24 Parganas district, the source said.

The owners of shops from where the SIMs were bought were detained for interrogation.

"The cards were purchased in lieu of some extra money. We suspect that this was to create a SIM card pool from which three were used in Mumbai attack," the source said.

The Mumbai police have traced five SIM cards used in the Mumbai attack of which three were procured from West Bengal.