NO ANSWERS YET IN NAVI MUMBAI

Two Days After Ahmedabad Serial Blasts, City Police Are Still Grappling For Leads On Terror Email, Missing Surat Cars American tenants’ PCs sent for cyber analysis

Times News Network
Mumbai: After more than a day of questioning, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Monday night had not yet given a clean chit to the American couple residing in the Sanpada flat from where Saturday’s terror e-mail originated.

An officer said, “We have scanned the computers in the flat and did not find anything incriminating. However, we are waiting for a cyber analysis report.’’

Five minutes before the Ahmedabad blasts, the media received an e-mail that was sent from an IP address in the Navi Mumbai flat. The sender of the e-mail claimed to be the Indian Al-Mujahideen and claimed responsibility for the serial blasts in Ahmedabad.

The ATS raided the flat at 2am on Sunday, but the occupants said their computer had been hacked into by the real sender of the email. A police team was still camping at the flat on Monday night questioning Kenneth Haywood and a second person the police identified as Kens. Police said Haywood is the general manager of a multinational communications company called Campbell White. The couple, along with two teenaged daughters, shifted to the flat in Gunina apartment in January this year, while another son and a younger daughter are in the US.

While police teams were busy examining the computers, the couple was allowed to roam freely in the flat. They were even allowed to make phone calls. “The soft-spoken couple is cooperative and the wife is an accent teacher at a call centre,’’ said an officer who was part of the probe team.

The couple offered the police tea several times and said they wanted to help the probe, police said.

Two laptops and a desktop were on Monday taken i n t o custody and sent to the Kalina
Forensic Laboratory for cyber analysis. “We have taken the computers into custody and will be sending them for analysis to the lab. We cannot comment anything about the involvement of the couple until we get the report,’’ said an ATS officer. The couple, which was being questioned since Saturday night, has not been allowed to step out of their flat. The police are now probing whether a mobile phone was used to send the e-mail using a parallel internet line. However, the ATS is yet to come to a conclusion. ATS teams on Monday questioned some usual suspects, but could not get useful information from them and they were allowed to go. An ATS team will leave for Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

Second-hand car sales under scanner
Mumbai: Police stations all over Mumbai have been asked to keep an eye on second-hand car sales and to tell all car dealers to maintain sales records. The move follows the serial blasts in Ahemdabad.

Cops suspect the terrorist groups use second-hand or stolen cars for their operations. This makes it difficult for investigative agencies to hunt for clues after the crime.

A senior police officer said on Monday that wireless instructions had been issued to all police stations and it was now up to them to implement the directives. Cops are also laying stress on nakabandis and monitoring the activities of anti-social elements. An Oshiwara police inspector said: “We have asked garage owners in our area to keep an eye on second-hand cars that come to them for repairs.’’

Joint commissioner of police K L Prasad said: “We are adopting all the precautionary measures required.’’

The Times of India, July 29, 2008