Date:14/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/14/stories/2008011457810100.htm

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Just Rs.15,000 paid to make a bomb!

Marri Ramu

HYDERABAD: Fifteen thousand rupees! Yes, that was the amount paid to make the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) used for the explosion in Mecca Masjid on May 18.

This and many other interesting points of financing terrorist modules in Hyderabad came to fore in the narco-analysis tests conducted on some suspects in the Masjid blast case. Khaja, the alleged Hyderabadi HuJI activist operating from abroad, had sent Rs. 50,000 to his brother Rafi, alias Shaik Abdul Kaleem, here to pay to the persons making the IEDs.

He handed over Rs. 15,000 to Imran in whose house at Hasmathpet of Bowenpally the explosive material smuggled by a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) agent was kept. In fact, Imran asked Rs. 50,000 for preparing the IED, he said, answering a question during the test.

Use of hawala

The amount paid to Kareem Dabba, a watch repairer, who planted the bomb inside the mosque was Rs. 1,000. Apart from these specific details, the narco-analysis tests revealed that terrorist outfits were using ‘hawala’ to finance their activities in the State. The HuJI activist, Abdul Mohammed Shahid, used to assure terrorist modules that he would continue to send money through Pakistan and Bangladesh as long as they continued to support his plans.

“If Shahid learns that any of his terrorist module members are arrested, he would support them financially to get bail and get released,” Rafi said during the test.

He would further help the member’s family by providing money. The police initially thought that lakhs of rupees might have exchanged hands to execute the blasts at Mecca Masjid and the explosions at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat.

Surprise

But the statements of the suspects came as a surprise to them since the suspects revealed that they were paid Rs. 15,000 to make the IED and another Rs. 1,000 to plant the bomb.

“The terrorists take care in selecting their agents and mostly prefer poor persons to execute their operations,” a police officer associated with the investigations said.