CRIME ON THE NET

Credit card fraud hits a new high

Data Used To Buy Air Tickets

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: Over 100 people have approached the cyber crime investigation cell (CCIC) of the Mumbai police in the last one month and complained that someone had used their credit card numbers to book air tickets they had never sought or got.

A Dahisar resident last week approached the cell saying he had received an intimation from his bank that Rs
1.5 lakh had been used from his credit card to buy air tickets. Interestingly, the limit on the credit card was just Rs 90,000.

“He had instructed the bank not to clear transactions of over Rs 80,000 without his permission but the bank officials ignored his request and cleared an amount far more than his limit,’’ said an officer.

Police said that in most of the cases the online tickets were booked with GoAir, Air Deccan and Kingfisher Airlines.

“The card details are mostly obtained from some restaurant, petrol pump or mall employees who swipe the card,’’ an officer added.

Last month, the D N Nagar police detected a case where a group of people booked air tickets on the internet using credit cards of card holders and later sold the tickets at a discount.

The accused, who had access to an individual’s card number, its expiry date and most importantly the VCC Code (the additional three digits at the end of the card number printed on the signature strip on back of card), logged on to websites of leading private airlines and used the details to book tickets. The airlines issue a confirmation, the printout of which can be exchanged for a boarding pass at the airport. The accused would then hang around at restaurants and bars and befriend frequent flyers. They would offer tickets at cheap rates and pocket the cash.

Though there are hundreds of such cases, the CCIC has been asked not to register the cases but send complainants to the concerned police stations. Sources said the cyber crime investigation cell officials have been asked “to just assist the police stations to solve a case’’.

The police have now directed the victims to report such cases to the police stations and take an acknowledgement copy from the police station and send it to the bank.

A few months ago, officials from the Bangalore cyber crime cell had arrested two persons from Vashi and seized 20-25 credit cards from them. The duo used to book tickets paying for them by credit card and collected money from ticket buyers in cash.

The Times of India, September 29, 2006

MCOCA makes bail tough for 7/11 accused

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: All this time the police had been facing a dilemma. How did one arrest suspected terrorists under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) if they had no previous police record? MCOCA stipulates that there should be at least two criminal cases against a person sought to be arrested under MCOCA.

Now, the police have found a solution. If the suspect can be linked to a person on whom MCOCA can be applied, the stringent law can be applied to the suspect as well.

This is how the police have justified the application of MCOCA against Faisal Shaikh, Dr Tanvir Ahmed, Kamal Ansari and Ehtesham Siddiqui, four of the nine accused in the 7/11 blasts.

According to the anti-terrorism squad (ATS), the four are linked to another suspect who is still at large and whose identity has not been disclosed. This man, a south Mumbai resident, provided shelter and logistical support to the other accused.

“We have got evidence of his involvement in the train bombing case and don’t want to reveal his identity since it will alert him. Once he is arrested, we will disclose the entire conspiracy,’’ said deputy inspector general, (ATS), Jai Jeet Singh.

Police sources said the wanted accused had also helped in hawala transactions which was routed into the city from Bangladesh and West Asia. He was aware of the entire conspiracy.

“His name was revealed during the interrogation of another blast accused, Faisal Shaikh, who disclosed the same thing in his narco analysis test in Bangalore,’’ said an officer. The police had also questioned the wanted accused’s relatives a month ago.

Dr Tanvir had a few weeks ago submitted an application before a court and stated that he cannot be kept in police custody for each case he was being booked in. Dr Tanvir also applied for bail but the court directed the ATS to produce the evidence against him in court. Sources said the ATS booked these accused under MCOCA so that they could be kept in custody for a longer period.

Dr Tanvir was arrested in 2001 for his alleged association with the banned organisation, SIMI. There was no case against Faisal and Siddiqui. According to the police, all the arrested accused had gone to Pakistan for terror training via Iran. Kamal, a resident of Madhubani district in Bihar, was accused of illegally carrying an AK-47 assault rifle in 2004. He is also said to have gone to Pakistan for terror training.

Criminal lawyer Satish Maneshinde was of the opinion that the police had been charging every accused under MCOCA, particularly those linked to the underworld on the basis of their association with an organised crime syndicate.

“In the stamp paper scam, the accused police officers were also charged under MCOCA since several other accused in this were also wanted in many other cases,’’ Maneshinde said.

New state panel to review intel inputs
In the wake of serial explosions in Mumbai and Malegaon, the state government has set up a standing committee and a task force to review intelligence inputs and recommend measures to prevent terror strikes in future. A formal order regarding the setting up of the 13-member standing committee and the task force was issued by the state home department on Tuesday. The committee will be headed by chief secretary and comprise top officials from the police, Intelligence Bureau, Coast Guard, customs and the Navy.

The Times of India, September 27, 2006

Bomb planter identified: ATS

7/11 PROBE

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: The anti-terrorism squad (ATS) has claimed to have identified Faisal Shaikh (30), a college dropout who calls himself an exporter, as one of the persons who had planted a bomb in Mumbai’s local trains on July 11.

Faisal, a resident of Mira Road, was arrested on July 27 along with his younger brother, Muzammil (26), a software developer.

ATS sources have also claimed to have managed to piece together all the missing links in the bombings that killed 200. Stating that the ATS had come across proof of the explosive being transported around the city, an officer said, “The material for making the bombs—ammonium nitrate and fuel oil—were bought from the city while the RDX was smuggled from outside.’’ Police said Faisal’s “small export business’’ was a front for routing hawala money used to fund the terror attack.

Other vital information with the police included details of the place where the conspiracy was hatched and names of the persons who visited Mumbai before the bombings. “The aim of the perpetrators of the attack was to create an atmosphere of hatred between Hindus and Muslims and sabotage the economy,’’ an officer said.

So far, nine persons have been arrested in the case. These include Dr Tanvir, Kamal Ahmed, Khalid Shaikh, Mumtaz Maqbool Chaudhury, Ehtesham Siddiqui, Sohail Shaikh and Zameer Shaikh. During investigations they revealed having been trained in the use of firearms and bomb-making at a terror camp in Pakistan. The accused have said all the trainees at the Pakistani camp were given code names.

Faisal told investigators that he visited Pakistan twice—in 2004, 2005—for weapons training and each time he stayed there for six months. He is also said to have met key ISI operative Azam Cheema, officials claimed, adding that, Pune-resident Sohail has revealed having been allotted the job of finding out names, addresses and current postings of the hundreds of policemen who were deployed during the 2002 Gujarat riots but did nothing to stop the carnage.

Faisal was educated in a boarding school, Jamia-tul-Huda, at Malegaon in Nashik district. After completing his matric from Malegaon in 1993, he again moved to Mumbai and took admission at Maharashtra College but later quit studies. In 1994, he joined a technical course at Eklvya Polytechnik but quit that also.

“Faisal was instructed to gather information about Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), huge business centres, Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs), a few Maharashtra ministers and a top Gujarat politician,’’ police said.

The Times of India, September 24, 2006

Train blasts: Narco tests put cops on track

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: The anti-terrorism squad (ATS) grilled the 7/11 suspects for over five weeks but it was the narco-analysis test which provided a major lead. The report was submitted to the squad 10 days ago.

Four accused—Kamal Ahmed, Faisal Shaikh, Muzammil Shaikh and Dr Tanvir Ahmed—were subjected to a series of tests including narco analysis, brain mapping and lie detector tests at Bangalore’s Victoria Hospital and Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in the first week of September.

Soon after the police got the report from the FSL and answers to the missing links in the case, DGP P S Pasricha, police commissioner A N Roy and ATS chief Krish Pal Raghuvanshi briefed the home ministry about the development. On Wednesday, home minister R R Patil announced that the police had made a major breakthrough.

According to the police, the most important answers during the narco-analysis tests were those of Dr Tanvir and Faisal. “Tanvir revealed the conspiracy and their plans during the tests,’’ said a police source.

During the narco test, Kamal Ahmed reportedly said that he had met Azam Cheema, Lashkare-Tabia’s commander (training), in Pakistan during his monthlong training session. The forensic experts at the hospital are believed to have asked why they had targetted the first-class compartments. The accused said the module had targeted them since they were mostly used by the “rich and influential’’ people.

In response to a question about financing, one of the accused said Azam Cheema had sent money to Faisal’s brother Raheel in Dubai from where Raheel, with the help of his Puneborn friend Rizwan Dawre, sent it to Mumbai through hawala. In Mumbai, Muzammil received the money on behalf of Faisal. Police had recovered 15,000 riyals from Faisal’s residence in August.

Faisal, who has been termed as LeT’s western India commander by the police, visited the
terror training camp in Pakistan twice. He confessed during the narco test that he had also sent Dr Tanvir and Muzammil for training in 2004. According to a police source, Muzammil had arranged for a visa and air ticket for Dr Tanvir for the training in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Roy on Friday said that the police had got vital leads but disclosure of the leads would be “too premature’’. He said the police were connecting the missing links in the case.

The police chief also rubbished reports about the involvement of Al-Qaida in the blasts. “It is the handiwork of big organisations like LeT and Jaishe-Mohammed,’’ Roy said.

The Times of India, September 23, 2006

Malegaon’s looming disaster

RESIGNED TO FATE: Even if the residents get degrees from one of the town’s two colleges, they end up in jobs like being a supervisor of a powerloom unit

The Poor In This Textile Town Have Long Since Given Up Hope

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Malegaon: Fifty-five-yearold Raheema Bi, a powerloom worker in this textile township, earns Rs 500 a week for her widowed daughter and four grandchildren. She can’t send them to private Urdu schools because the admission fee for most kindergartens is Rs 2,000, which is beyond her budget. She purchases only two new outfits a year, one during Eid and another at Eid-ul-Zuha (Bakr Eid).

Like thousands of others, she arrives at 7 am at the karkhana (powerloom unit) and works till evening. Assisted by her daughter, Raheema does a variety of jobs, from preparing raw materials to sweeping.

Over 62,000 workers in the powerloom town of Malegaon have similar stories. They live with unemployment or jobs offered to those with poor education. They have long since given up hope and are resigned to their fates. They don’t complain about politicians as they don’t think politicians will ever do anything to help the poor and downtrodden.

While the children of loom owners are able to leave the town and go to Mumbai, Pune or Aurangabad for further studies and better prospects, the children of labourers are stuck here. Even if they get degrees from one of the town’s two colleges, they end up in jobs like being a ‘mhetha’ (supervisor) of a powerloom unit, which pays Rs 500 to Rs 700 a week.

Malegaon has not a single engineering, medical or technical college, a situation many blame on the war between two politicians, former MLA Nihal Ahmed and sitting MLA Shaikh Rasheed.

Though Malegaon is famous for raw materials like cotton and polyester, it has been facing a recession and other crises for over a decade. The state or Centre have never thought of aiding the township. Residents have long wanted a Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) zone, so that electricity, water, land and so on can be got at cheaper rates.

While Ahmed, a socialist, opposed the loom industry during his 22-year tenure as MLA, Rasheed, a Congress MLA, is a primary school dropout who many blame for not introducing any infrastructural, educational, textile or other schemes. While Bhiwandi, another powerloom hub in the state, has hitech looms, Malegaon still uses thousands of looms that are considered scrap.

Over one lakh powerlooms form the backbone of the city’s economy, providing jobs to over 62,000 people. Including their families, upto five lakh people are directly dependent on the looms in this town of nine lakh people. Then there are the other industries operating alongside—raw material providers, transporters, porters, oil merchants, electricians and so on.

Load-shedding tops the city’s list of problems. “There is a power cut for four to six hours every day, which hampers production. In a week without load-shedding, a labourer can earn Rs 600 to Rs 800. His earnings drop 25% during load-shedding,’’ said Iftekhar Ahmed, an MBA from Pune university who is now running his family powerloom business. He said Rs 400 to Rs 500 is insufficient for a labourer to run a family.

The loom owners too have their complaints. With an average turnover of Rs 60 lakh to Rs 80 lakh a year, the owner of a 24-machine unit claims he makes a profit of only Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh a year, which is less than 2% of the turnover. The profit is even less if the unit has rented machines, is in a rented place, uses rented yarn and so on.

A section of loom owners are ready to pay more for electricity if they get continuous power supply and repairs are done promptly. “We have to wait for a day or two for the MSEB employees, so we have to call private parties to do the repairs,’’ said a loom owner.

The Times of India, September 22, 2006

2 more held for Nanded explosion

PIECING TOGETHER

Mateen Hafeez I TNN

Mumbai: The state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested two more persons in connection with the Nanded bomb blast, which took place on April 6 this year. The bomb had gone off while it was being manufactured, killing two persons on the spot and injuring 12 others, two of whom died in hospital.

Yogesh Maruti Wagh, who is from Bajrang Nagar in Nanded, and Ravendra Deshpande (21), who is from Vaman Nagar in Nanded, were arrested four days ago. ATS chief
K P Raghuvanshi said, “We arrested Wagh and Deshpande after they were discharged from hospital. They had sustained injuries in the blast.’’

According to the police, all the 12 arrested for the Nanded blast belonged to the Bajrang Dal. While suspects from the Students Islamic Movement of India and the Lashkare-Taiba are under the scanner in investigations into the Mumbai and Malegaon blasts, the ATS, saying it will leave no stone unturned, is also questioning members of Bajrang Dal in this regard.

“We are searching for the financier and the brain behind the conspiracy to explode bombs at religious places in Parbhani and other Marathwada areas. The arrested men say Naresh Rajkondwar, who died in the Nanded blast, was the mastermind of the blasts,’’ a senior ATS officer said.

The ATS is also probing blasts outside the Mohammedi Masjid in Parbhani, a mosque located in the Central Avenue area of Nagpur, a mosque in Jalna and another mosque in Porna. All the blasts took place on Fridays after namaaz, police sources said.

Incidentally, ATS sources also said Sanjay Chaudhury, who was arrested in connection with the Parbhani blast, had said during narco-analysis and brain-mapping tests in Bangalore that he had been assisted by Wagh and Deshpande. A court released Chaudhury on Rs 50,000 bail last week.

Rajkondwar and his friend, Himanshu Panse, the other man to die on the spot in Nanded, were office-bearers of Nanded’s Bajrang Dal unit, ATS officers said. The ATS has also questioned a chemical supplier, but refused to reveal his identity.

Investigators said that the accused were trained in connecting devices, timers, switches and detonators and using gunpowder on the outskirts of Nanded. The police said that a live pipe bomb, 1.5kg gunpowder, timers, switches and other devices were seized from Rajkondwar’s residence.

An FIR was registered against Rajkondwar’s father, Laxman, a retired executive engineer of the state’s irrigation department, at the Bhagya Nagar police station in Nanded.

The Times of India, September 21, 2006

MALEGAON BLASTS -RDX cocktail confirmed

THE SEARCH GOES ON: 38 persons were killed in blasts that ripped Malegaon

Hyderabad Lab Results Match Those Of Earlier Forensic Tests

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: The Hyderabad forensic science laboratory confirmed on Tuesday the findings of an earlier report which said that RDX was the main ingredient of the cocktail used by terrorists to detonate four bombs in the textile town of Malegaon on September 8.

“The second report has confirmed that the ingredients of the bombs are the same as stated in the first report. The use of RDX in the bombs has been confirmed,’’ said inspector-general of police Prem Kishen Jain, Nashik range.

The Hyderabad report, submitted to the Malegaon police, states that the bomb contained a cocktail of RDX, ammonium nitrate, nitrite and petroleum hydrocarbon oil. The earlier forensic report, from the Nashik laboratory, had listed the same cocktail. A third report, from the National Security Guard, New Delhi, is awaited.

Three bombs planted on cycles at the Bada Kabrastan and a fourth bomb planted at the Mushawerat Chowk area went off in Malegaon, killing 38 people and injuring 297 others. The blasts took place in a span of five minutes—1.45pm to 1.50pm—on a Friday before the night when Shab-e-Baraat is observed.

The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the Malegaon police are still clueless about the identities of the bombers. With over 400 suspects questioned and the statements of all injured witnesses recorded, the police claim to have “concrete’’ information about the perpetrators. However, though the Malegaon police are reputed to have an excellent network of informants, they have been unable to make any arrest in the case. Six teams of policemen were sent out of the town in pursuit of leads and suspects, but they returned empty handed, police sources said.

Meanwhile, combing operations continue and all those registered in police records for petty crime are being picked up for questioning. Reports about the alleged torture of youths in police custody have been making the rounds. The Malegaon Jamiat-ul-Ulema has announced that the relatives of people questioned by the police should contact them if they have any complaint. The residents of Malegaon want the probe handed over to the CBI.

The residents are also unhappy that the police had no security deployed at the cemetery on Shab-e-Baraat, a day when over 1.5 lakh people visit the mosque and kabrastan to offer prayers.

On Monday, ATS chief Krish Pal Raghuvanshi visited Malegaon and met with investigators there.

There were reports that financial transactions worth lakhs of rupees took place before and after the blasts at a bank in the Camp area of Malegaon, but the police refused to confirm this.

The Times of India, September 20, 2006