War On Terror: Shootings Suspect Deported To India

by Peter Popham
The Independent
February 10, 2002

The man who telephoned police and news media in India to claim responsibility for a drive-by shooting last month that killed five policemen outside the American Centre in Calcutta was deported from the United Arab Emirates and brought to Delhi under arrest yesterday.

Farhan Malik, also known as Aftab Ahmed Ansari, is regarded in India as a dangerous gangster, and was said to have been living in Dubai under a false name and with a Pakistani passport. He is the first person to be extradited from the UAE to India under a two-year-old treaty.

The arrest is India's first unequivocal success in a case that has been beset by conflicting explanations and unconvincing "breakthroughs" since the brutal killings occurred on 22 January. India quickly labelled the incident a terrorist attack, directed at America, and claimed that Pakistan's military intelligence agency, ISI, was behind it.

Pakistan tartly rejected the claim, while the US said it was yet to be convinced that it was not merely a violent crime.

Mr Malik was said to have masterminded the kidnapping of a Calcutta businessman last summer which yielded a ransom of 40m rupees (nearly pounds 590,000). According to the evidence of a man allegedly involved, who has since died in custody, US$ 100,000 was sent by Mr Malik to the British Islamic militant, Omar Sheikh, who in August forwarded it to Mohammed Atta, the man believed to have piloted one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Centre.

Omar Sheikh has been named by Pakistani authorities as chief suspect in the still unresolved kidnapping of the American journalist, Daniel Pearl, in January.

Copyright 2002 Newspaper Publishing PLC

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