Ansari’s arrest to reveal more on LeT’s Kerala module

The arrest of Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal will shed more light on the Lashkar-e-Toiba module in Kerala and David Coleman Headley’s visit to Kochi on November 16, in 2008 a few days before the 26/11 Mumbai attack. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) suspects that Ansari was close to Abu Rehan alias Wali who conducted armed training for Malayali youth in Kashmir.


According to a top-level NIA official, Ansari had coordinated the Mumbai 26/11 attacks and he knew about Headley’s visit. “Ansari had submitted about his role in the Mumbai attack and was passing information to terrorists from a temporary control room in Karachi. His arrest will give us information on Headley’s motive to arrive at Kochi and on the LeT module in Kerala,” the official said.


Ansari was involved in the Ahmedabad bomb blast and the Aurangabad arms haul in 2006 with Wali.



“Wali was a key accused in the Kashmir recruitment case. He had conducted armed training in Kashmir, in which youth from Kerala participated. Wali was also involved in the Ahmedabad and Bangalore bomb blasts. He was behind the smuggling of weapons into the country, which were seized in Aurangabad. Ansari had also conducted camps for the youth to join jihadi activities in Pakistan and isolated locations in Kashmir,” the NIA sources said. Ansari was born on November 23, 1981, in Ahmedabad. Fayaz Kagzi, his college senior, recruited him into the LeT.


Ansari was a BSc graduate and pursued Hindi for post-graduation, but could not complete it. Fayaz introduced him to Aslam Kashmiri who sent him to Kathmandu in 2006 for training. On his return, Ansari got involved in the Ahmedabad bomb blast and the Aurangabad arms haul. Though the police tried to nab him, he escaped to Bangladesh. He then went to Pakistan.


He got training under Lashkar operative Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi who masterminded the 26/11 attack. In 2007, Ansari plotted attacks on Narendra Modi and L K Advani. In 2008, he trained terrorists and helped execute the Mumbai attack. He was arrested from Delhi Airport on June 21 while arriving from Saudi Arabia.