Key 26/11 terrorist arrested

New Delhi - After tracking him for more than three years, security agencies have arrested Sayed Zabiuddin alias Abu Hamza, alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba ultra and the Hindi tutor of 10 terrorists who carried out the audacious attack in Mumbai in 2008.

30-year-old Zabiuddin also known as Abu Jindal, who hails from Georai area of Beed district in Maharashtra, was arrested on June 21 when he arrived in India from a Gulf country, official sources said on Monday.

India had also secured an Interpol Red Corner notice against him in which he was accused of crimes involving the use of weapons, explosives and terrorism.

With his arrest, the mysterious voice recorded during the conversation between 10 Lashkar terrorists and their handlers in Pakistan has been identified, the sources said.

According to the officials associated with the probe, Zabiuddin had told Lashkar terrorists carrying out attack in Nariman House to convey to the media that the “attack was a trailer and the entire movie was yet to come.“

The voice was that of Zabiuddin and after this his activities were traced before he was finally nabbed in a Gulf country, according to officials.

In the intercepted tapes, Zabiuddin was also heard using typical Hindi words like prashasan (government) and was directing the terrorists to conceal their Pakistani identity and identify themselves from Deccan Mujahideen hailing from Toli Chowk in Hyderabad.

His presence was also stated by Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested during the Mumbai attack, in his deposition before a special court. He told the court that one person by the name of Abu Jindal had tutored 10 terrorists on how to speak Hindi.

Missing since 2005, Zabiuddin, who had undergone training at Indian Technical Institute in Beed, had a sudden rise in the ranks of Lashkar-e-Taiba after he was indoctrinated by banned SIMI post Gujarat riots in 2002.

The Central security agencies had quizzed many arrested terrorists to study the case of Zabiuddin during which it came to light that he had been operating out of terror camps in Karachi and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and was a key figure in the terror group’s plan to carry out the strikes in the country’s hinterland.