May 25, 2011
Mumbai Plotter Testifies About Training
By GINGER THOMPSON
CHICAGO -- A Pakistani-American who has confessed to helping plot the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, testified in federal court here on Wednesday that the Drug Enforcement Administration had asked him to infiltrate Islamic extremist groups while working as an informant.
He also said that he later used his relationship with the agency as cover for his activities with the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The man, David C. Headley, also testified that in addition to attending Lashkar training camps, he received espionage training from noncommissioned officers in the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate of Pakistan.
Pakistan has denied that its intelligence agency played a role in the Mumbai attacks.
The testimony shed new light on Mr. Headley's relationship with the D.E.A. and on the involvement of Pakistani intelligence in the Mumbai attack, which killed 163 people, including six Americans. It came near the end of the third day in the trial of a Chicago businessman, Tahawwur Rana, who is accused of supporting the attack.
Mr. Headley, who used his appearance and American passport to move easily across borders and scout the locations that were attacked, agreed to testify against Mr. Rana to avoid the death penalty. Prosecutors charge that Mr. Rana used his business as a front for Mr. Headley's activities in Mumbai. Mr. Rana's lawyers argue that he was duped by Mr. Headley, whom he has known since high school.
One of Mr. Rana's lawyers, Charles Swift, began cross-examining Mr. Headley on Wednesday, and his relationship with the D.E.A. was one of the first areas explored. Mr. Headley said that he had traveled to Pakistan for the agency in 1999, and continued working with it until September 2002, months after he had begun training with Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Mr. Swift asked Mr. Headley about a 2001 episode in which his former wife warned the Federal Bureau of Investigation that she believed he was plotting with terrorists. Mr. Headley said he told the investigators that he was mixing with extremists as part of a government assignment.
"I had instructions from the D.E.A. to visit those mosques," Mr. Headley said.
"So you told the government not to worry because you were working for them, right?" Mr. Swift asked.
Mr. Headley replied, "Yes."
Later, Mr. Swift asked Mr. Headley for details about his Inter-Services Intelligence handler, a man known only as Major Iqbal.
When Mr. Swift asked why Mr. Headley believed the man was an ISI agent, Mr. Headley said he had met Major Iqbal on a military base, and saw him traveling several times in military vehicles.
Mr. Headley also said that Major Iqbal was less than impressed with the training he had received from Lashkar, so he arranged for him to get ISI training.
Mr. Headley said the training took place in a small compound near the airport in Lahore, Pakistan. When asked how many sessions he attended, Mr. Headley answered, "scores."