03-01-2009, 07:25 AM
India Journal
CSI Mumbai Grapples With The Terror Attacks
By ERIC BELLMAN
MUMBAI--When Mumbai's joint police commissioner Rakesh Maria on Wednesday unveiled the results of his three-month investigation into the November terrorist attacks, about a dozen of his investigators stood behind him to face the cameras and get some airtime.
[Eric Bellman]
Eric Bellman
At first glance, it appears their star turn before the nation's media was well-deserved.
Despite concerns that the Mumbai police force â which seemed helpless to prevent or contain the attacks which killed more than 170 â could bungle again, their investigation seems to have been sufficiently sophisticated and thorough to warrant a pitch for a new television series: CSI Mumbai.
Parts of the 11,280-page charge sheet seen by the Wall Street Journal Wednesday suggest that the undermanned, underequipped and underpaid police officers in India's largest city have gone to great lengths to earn back the respect of India's citizens.
The police did have a great advantage in getting to the bottom of what happened: A live terror suspect, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, who was talking. He is the only one of the 10 attackers who survived.
âDespite repeated questions by the media, Mr. Maria said that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency was not mentioned in the massive report.â
The police, however, went much further. They say they have matched DNA and fingerprint evidence found on the attackers and on the ship they hijacked to come to India from Pakistan.
They also followed the trail of money from the phones and the Voice Over Internet Protocol service used by the attackers to a network that included money transfers from Italy and Pakistan as well as emails through IP addresses in Kuwait, Moscow, Lahore and Chicago. They asked, and received, assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to unlock five global positioning system handsets used by the attackers to plot their journey from Karachi to Mumbai.
Their investigation also turned up 35 accomplices, though most of them are only known by their aliases. They include leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist militant group based in Pakistan that has been blamed for masterminding the attacks. The police also tracked every bullet, bomb and grenade brought in by the attackers as well as the more than 200 calls between them and their handlers.
More
* Read a synopsis of the police report.
* For Rakesh Maria, the Toughest Case Yet
* Police Morale Takes a Hit After Mumbai Attacks
The ultimate test of the police's thoroughness will be whether their charges stand in court when Mr. Kasab faces trial. But it's already clear that this investigation is of a different order than those that many Indians now expect from their police. It is also vintage Maria, a 50-year-old cop whose investigative skills have inspired at least one Bollywood movie.
The charge sheet also is significant for what Mr. Maria says it doesn't include: Any information connecting the attacks directly to the government, military or intelligence service in Pakistan. Despite repeated questions by the media Wednesday, Mr. Maria said that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, Pakistan's premier spy service, was not mentioned in the massive report.
Parts of the report seen by the Wall Street Journal name two suspected accomplices with military titles: "Major General Sahab" and "Col. R. Saadatullah." Mr. Maria emphasized, however that investigators were still trying to find out whether these were just aliases or actual serving or retired army officers.
Some may be disappointed by the lack of a smoking gun connecting the attacks directly to people in power in Pakistan, especially since senior Indian government officials continue to insist that the ISI must have had a role because of the sophistication of the attacks, even though they never provide evidence to back up that claim.
That absence of a closer link to Pakistan in the police report likely will add, rather than undermine, its credibility.
"We have been very careful," Mr. Maria said to a packed press room below his office as his team tried to squeeze through reporters to get in front of the cameras. "The boys have worked very hard."
â Mr. Bellman is a Wall Street Journal correspondent based in Mumbai
CSI Mumbai Grapples With The Terror Attacks
By ERIC BELLMAN
MUMBAI--When Mumbai's joint police commissioner Rakesh Maria on Wednesday unveiled the results of his three-month investigation into the November terrorist attacks, about a dozen of his investigators stood behind him to face the cameras and get some airtime.
[Eric Bellman]
Eric Bellman
At first glance, it appears their star turn before the nation's media was well-deserved.
Despite concerns that the Mumbai police force â which seemed helpless to prevent or contain the attacks which killed more than 170 â could bungle again, their investigation seems to have been sufficiently sophisticated and thorough to warrant a pitch for a new television series: CSI Mumbai.
Parts of the 11,280-page charge sheet seen by the Wall Street Journal Wednesday suggest that the undermanned, underequipped and underpaid police officers in India's largest city have gone to great lengths to earn back the respect of India's citizens.
The police did have a great advantage in getting to the bottom of what happened: A live terror suspect, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, who was talking. He is the only one of the 10 attackers who survived.
âDespite repeated questions by the media, Mr. Maria said that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency was not mentioned in the massive report.â
The police, however, went much further. They say they have matched DNA and fingerprint evidence found on the attackers and on the ship they hijacked to come to India from Pakistan.
They also followed the trail of money from the phones and the Voice Over Internet Protocol service used by the attackers to a network that included money transfers from Italy and Pakistan as well as emails through IP addresses in Kuwait, Moscow, Lahore and Chicago. They asked, and received, assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to unlock five global positioning system handsets used by the attackers to plot their journey from Karachi to Mumbai.
Their investigation also turned up 35 accomplices, though most of them are only known by their aliases. They include leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist militant group based in Pakistan that has been blamed for masterminding the attacks. The police also tracked every bullet, bomb and grenade brought in by the attackers as well as the more than 200 calls between them and their handlers.
More
* Read a synopsis of the police report.
* For Rakesh Maria, the Toughest Case Yet
* Police Morale Takes a Hit After Mumbai Attacks
The ultimate test of the police's thoroughness will be whether their charges stand in court when Mr. Kasab faces trial. But it's already clear that this investigation is of a different order than those that many Indians now expect from their police. It is also vintage Maria, a 50-year-old cop whose investigative skills have inspired at least one Bollywood movie.
The charge sheet also is significant for what Mr. Maria says it doesn't include: Any information connecting the attacks directly to the government, military or intelligence service in Pakistan. Despite repeated questions by the media Wednesday, Mr. Maria said that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, Pakistan's premier spy service, was not mentioned in the massive report.
Parts of the report seen by the Wall Street Journal name two suspected accomplices with military titles: "Major General Sahab" and "Col. R. Saadatullah." Mr. Maria emphasized, however that investigators were still trying to find out whether these were just aliases or actual serving or retired army officers.
Some may be disappointed by the lack of a smoking gun connecting the attacks directly to people in power in Pakistan, especially since senior Indian government officials continue to insist that the ISI must have had a role because of the sophistication of the attacks, even though they never provide evidence to back up that claim.
That absence of a closer link to Pakistan in the police report likely will add, rather than undermine, its credibility.
"We have been very careful," Mr. Maria said to a packed press room below his office as his team tried to squeeze through reporters to get in front of the cameras. "The boys have worked very hard."
â Mr. Bellman is a Wall Street Journal correspondent based in Mumbai