Asia-Pacific
US charges Chicago man in Mumbai attacks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-12-08 10:28
Among the contacts was a retired major in the Pakistani military, Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, who US prosecutors accused of being Headley's contact with Lashkar and another militant group to help plot the attacks against the newspaper, which were never carried out.
Abdur Rehman was arrested earlier this year by Pakistani authorities and released. It was not immediately clear if US authorities will seek to extradite him on charges of conspiring to murder and maim in a foreign country and providing material support for terrorism.
In November 2008, 10 attackers launched their assault on various targets in Mumbai, including several where Headley had conducted surveillance, according to the documents. Targets scouted out by Headley included the Taj Mahal hotel, the Oberoi hotel, the Leopold Cafe, the Nariman House and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station.
He also scouted out a military school in India.
In India, Headley opened a branch of the travel and immigration business owned by his accused co-conspirator in Chicago as a cover for his extensive travels, according to court papers. He also changed his name in 2006 from Daood Gilani so as not to appear Muslim or Pakistani.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who recently returned from an interfaith conference in Mumbai, said Headley was believed to have carried a book, "To Praise a Jew," to ease his entry into the Jewish center.
"It would have been a clever move because they have extensive outreach. It's a place where Jews come together," Cooper said.
A lawyer for Headley said the government's filing spoke for itself and declined further comment.
