26/11 cost Lashkar Rs 2 cr - Vicky Nanjappa | Claim by authors Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott that entire 26/11 operation cost just 40000 US Dollars (Rs 2492000) is not correct according to officer in the National Investigation Agency who is probing the David Headley angle to the attack. The boats alone that were used to ferry the terrorists in the city and also the arrangements involving the travel between Pakistan and India cost the Lashkar Rs 25 lakh. During the questioning of David Headley which has been recorded and is part of the court proceedings, an amount of Rs 25 lakh was given to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba by the ISI specifically for the above mentioned purpose. There are several more aspects to the attacks and only the travel to the India and the lead up to it cost the Lashkar Rs 25 lakh and hence the figure of 40000 US Dollars quoted by the authors is not correct, the officer also pointed out. 26/11 attack had almost 30 persons on the job including the ten terrorists too. Apart from paying the terrorists, there was a lot of money that went into the procurement of arms and ammunition, the cost of travel involving Headley and also his reconnaissance costs alone came up to Rs 40 lakh according to the various accounts collected by the investigators. In addition to this there were several other operatives who were paid for the operation. The biggest money spent was on David Headley and the ten terrorists. All these persons had a weakness for money and only this aspect was applicable to them while training them for the attack. While Headley received money at regular intervals to facilitate his travel to India and also his stay in various plush hotels, terrorists were each promised a sum of Rs 10 lakh for the attack. Although the Lashkar knew all along that none of these terrorists would return alive, they continued to lie to the ten men that they would be rewarded Rs 10 lakh each upon completion of the project. The ten terrorists were also told that in case something happens to them, they would go to heaven and enjoy the services of 100 virgins, but also added that the money that was promised to them would be handed over to their families. The rest of the operatives who controlled the attack from Pakistan were not paid much money. The likes of Abu Jundal worked for the Lashkar on a Rs 5000 per month salary. There were similar persons in the set up like Jundal who preferred working for the cause rather than money. Indian investigators say that the attack would have cost the Lashkar anything between Rs 2 crore and Rs 2.5 crore going by the estimates that they have managed to gather during the course of their investigation. The questioning of several operatives in other cases too has revealed that the Lashkar is very liberal when it comes to spending for big operations. Take for instance the IISC attack in Bangalore which took place nearly 10 years back. As per the investigation and questioning of Sabahuddin Ahmed one of the accused in the case, the Lashkar doled out Rs 50 lakh for the attack. The handlers told us that money is not a criteria, but then the attack should be successful and we should not waste that money. The Lashkar has a lot of money in its reserves. There is one instance to prove that the government of Pakistan itself makes a budgetary allocation. In the year 2013, the Punjab province government had allocated Rs 61.35 million for the Jamaat-ud-Dawa considered to be a front for the Lashkar. In addition to this the government also granted Rs 350 million towards the setting up of a Knowledge park by the JuD known as the Markar-e-Taiba. This is just a government aid and it is a well known fact that the Lashkar has sympathisers all over the world who contribute generously towards the outfit. Fact that money generated through charity is not always used in full for the purpose it is meant to be is something that the NIA explains better. While probing the activities of the Hizbul Mujahideen, the NIA found that the outfit had relied heavily on funds raised by a charity organisation. It was found that the Hizbul raised money to the tune of Rs 13 crore through an organisation known as the Jammu and Kashmir Affectees Relief Trust (JKART). Not only was this money used by the Hizbul, but it also distributed a considerable amount of money to other groups which were supporting it. The money that is raised through charity is never accounted even in the case of the Lashkar. The money is then sent to various channels through Hawala, banking network, cross border trade.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 05:39:45 +0000
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