This Article is From Jun 06, 2009

Cops nab Lashkar's head hunter in India

AP image

New Delhi:

Mumbai terror attack plotter Hafeez Saeed may have walked free, but Delhi police has arrested who they claim is his right hand man in India, Lashkar operative Mohammad Madni.

According to the police, Madni was in India to recruit young graduates who knew at least a little about computers. It was Madni who allegedly had recruited Kamal Ansari, one of the men arrested for the Mumbai serial train blasts in July 2006 that left 209 dead and more than 700 injured.

The 50-year-old was arrested by the special cell after he arrived in Delhi on Thursday to hand over $8000 and 50 thousand rupees to an operative in the Capital.

Madni's association to the Lashkar goes back to 1998 when he was handpicked by Saeed to go to Pakistan to receive training in LeT camps.

Born in Madhubani Bihar, Madni moved to Nepal with his father and soon opened two madarasas. He also opened a tour and travel agency and even a surgical shop as covers. But his real purpose was to recruit potentials for jehad and send them for training to Pakistan.

Says P N Agarwal, Additional Commissioner (Special Cell) of Delhi Police: "In 2008 he went to Pakistan and was told to see about recruiting men in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Madras, where he was to get 2 boys each and at least one of them be computer literate."

For more close to 15 years, Madni also perfected his language skills. He can apparently speak 6 languages, including Arabic, Nepali and Bengali --  apart from talent hunting and infiltrating militants. Hafiz Saeed had also made Madni in-charge of distributing funds to militants in India and Nepal.

But Madni's growing influence had also caught the attention of security agencies in may this year the CIA gave a tip-off to the Indian authorities about his movements. He slipped into India from Nepal recently and distributed $22,000 and close to 9 lakh to 2 LeT operatives in Patna and Aligarh before coming to Delhi on Thursday evening.

The Lashkar had asked him to prepare 2 boys each in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and  coastal areas to motivate young men working in firework factories to work for the Lashkar.

Over almost a decade, Madni managed to infiltrate more than 30 militants into India. The police have made this their top priority to try and nab these men as quickly as possible.

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