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Aborted MissionInvestigation: Did Mossad attempt to
infiltrate Islamic radical outfits in south Asia?
by Subir BhaumikThe Week, February 6, 2000
http://www.the-week.com/20feb06/events2.htm
On January 12 Indian intelligence officials in Calcutta detained
11 foreign nationals forinterrogation before they were to board a
Dhaka-bound Bangladesh Biman flight. They weredetained on the
suspicion of being hijackers. "But we realised that they were
tabliqis (Islamicpreachers), so we let them go," said an
intelligence official. They had planned to attend anIslamic
convention near Dhaka, but Bangladesh refused them visa. Later,
seemingly underIsraeli pressure, India allowed them to fly to Tel
Aviv.
Where's the catch? The secret circular that warned of a possible
hijack
"They had landing permits at Dhaka, but that's not visa," said a
diplomat in the BangladeshHigh Commission in Delhi. "We decided not
to entertain them anymore because we cannottake chances."
The eleven had Israeli passports but were believed to be Afghan
nationals who had spent awhile in Iran. They had secured landing
permits for Dhaka and one-way tickets on BangladeshBiman's
Calcutta-Delhi route through a Delhi-based travel agency.
"We have a right to deny travel facility to a passenger even if
he has a valid ticket on securitygrounds," said a Bangladeshi Biman
official who did not want to be named. To the BangladeshBiman
officials the eleven, who were all Muslims, appeared "too
murky".
Indian intelligence officials, too, were surprised by the
nationality profile of the eleven. "Theyare surely Muslims; they
say that they have been on tabligh (preaching Islam) in India for
twomonths. But they are Israeli nationals from the West Bank," said
a Central Intelligence official.
He claimed that Tel Aviv "exerted considerable pressure" on
Delhi to secure their release. "Itappeared that they could be
working for a sensitive organisation in Israel and were on amission
to Bangladesh," the official said. The Israeli intelligence outfit,
Mossad, is known to
recruit Shia Muslims to penetrate Islamic radical networks.
"It is not unlikely for Mossad to recruit 11 Afghans in Iran and
grant them Israeli citizenship topenetrate a network such as Bin
Laden's. They would begin by infiltrating them into an
Islamicradical group in an unlikely place like Bangladesh," said
intelligence analyst Ashok Debbarma.The pressure exerted on India
by Israel for the release of the men, and the hurry with whichthey
were flown back suggested an aborted operation'.
Mossad watchers say the operation was possibly blown off by
"unwelcome intervention" in afriendly country, and they decided to
pull out.
The Calcutta immigration authorities may have laid their hands
on the wrong people. They
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were looking for Islamic radicals attempting hijack.
On January 11, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS)
issued a top secret circular (NO:ER/BCAS/PIC/ CIRCULAR/ 99),
quoting "an intelligence input" about a possible hijackattempt on a
Bangladesh Biman aircraft originating out of India. Copies of the
circular signedby regional deputy commissioner of security
(Calcutta Airport), L. Singsit, were issued torelevant Indian
agencies and Bangladesh Biman's station manager in Calcutta, Md.
Shahjahan.It said that eight "Pushtu-speaking Mujahideen" had
infiltrated into India for the purpose.
The circular also specified the motive behind the hijack: to
secure the release of the primeaccused in the Mujib-ur-Rehman
assassination case including Major (later Colonel) FarooqRehman and
Major Bazlul Huda.
"Dhaka told us to take no chances," said a Bangladesh Biman
official. The Sheikh Hasinagovernment is aware of the international
links of the Mujib-killers. While Libya had sheltered
some of them in the 70s and early 80s, middle eastern countries
helped others evade justice.Major (later Colonel) Khondakhar Abdul
Rashid, one of Colonel Farooq's co-plotters, is said tobe in Saudi
Arabia, where he maintains close links with Pakistan's ISI.
Meanwhile, Indian intelligence officials are still on the hunt
for "Pushtu-speaking hijackers".An additional director with Central
Intelligence said at least four hijackers were in easternIndia.
If the terrorists manage to extricate the likes of Colonel
Farooq through a hijack, it will boostthe anti-Indian Islamic
forces' in Bangladesh, particularly the agitation against the
Hasinagovernment.
With a less India-friendly government in Dhaka, Pakistan's ISI
could step up its help to theinsurgents in the northeast.
(The author is BBC's eastern India correspondent)
Source:http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/mossad_india.html
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