Dissatisfied with the military and espionage training received by Mumbai attacks accused David Headley from the LeT, Pakistan’s spy agency ISI provided him a special course in Lahore for carrying out surveillance ahead of the 26/11 carnage.
“ISI did provide me (espionage) training,” Headley told a Chicago court as he was grilled by the defence attorney Charles D. Swift on the third day of the trial on Thursday of Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana, another co-accused in the 26/11 attacks.
The training by the Pakistan intelligence agency to Headley was provided by Maj. Iqbal, who was his ISI handler, on the streets and in a two-storey safe house in Lahore near the airport, the 50-year-old Mumbai terror accused told jury during the course of questioning by Mr Swift.
Headley told the court that when he met Maj. Iqbal in 2006, he expressed dissatisfaction at the military and espionage training that he had received from the LeT earlier.
Maj. Iqbal, who was identified by Headley as “Chaudhery Khan”, told him that the training received from LeT was “not very good” and was “very elementary”, so he decided to give instructions to him. It was a two-storey house in a residential neighbourhood and there was a small compound outside the house, Headley said when pressed by Mr Swift during the closing hours on the third day of the trial.
After completing training in LeT camps in Pakistan, Headley wanted an assignment in Kashmir, according to the federal document unsealed by the court.
The document unsealed at the request of the Chicago Tribune showed that he was not given his favourite assignment, as the Lashkar leaders wanted to use him for something else.
According to the new documents, it was in February 2002, Headley began attending training camps in Pakistan for LeT.
By December 2003, Headley had attended five separate courses, and had been trained in, among other topics, Lashkar’s philosophy, the use of weapons and grenades, combat tactics, survival skills and counter surveillance methods.
After completing several camps, Headley became acquainted with a senior member of Lashkar Zakir Lakhvi, who was responsible for Lashkar’s military operations. —PTI