Authors: AJAY
Khalil Deek
One thing that
bothered Shalim Amār Khan was the selection of explosives. He had watched many real video images of demolition of buildings and knew the potency of the powerful explosives C-4 and HNIW. The attractive name of Her Majesty's eXplosive (HMX) brought a smile to his lips. However, he knew from his vast experience that he had no chance of procuring it since military grade explosives was not available among his known contacts. Underground operators did not have sufficient quantities of these extremely regulated explosives.
As per international agreements, each and every explosive needs to have a detection taggant or marker, which should produce a distinctive vapour signature after a blast. In case of a terrorist blast, this vapour signature can be sniffed out by both dogs and specialized ion mobility spectrometers even if as little as 0.5 parts per billion is left as residue in the affected surrounding.
Shalim Amār Khan therefore ignored military explosives and turned his attention to others that could be as devastating as any of these if a proper technique was used. He knew that al Qaeda had already brought into play an explosive to bring down the Khobar Tower in Saudi Arabia. However, the blowout left behind telltale signs at the mise-en-scène and the investigating agencies could zero in on the source of the explosives. Hence, for Tupac-II, he would not use such things that would leave a signature for detection after destruction. He knew he could not take triumphant credit for his feat, when the time came.
A seven thousand-page guide, entitled
Encyclopaedia of Jihad
was recovered from the home of Khalil Said al-Deek, aka Joseph Adams, when the Jordanian Police arrested him. Enquiries conducted by the police revealed that he held dual US-Jordanian citizenship. He had gone to America to study computer science and having lived in Los Angeles for sufficiently long years, he became a naturalized US citizen and worked as a computer engineer. As a privileged American passport holder, he visited Peshawar in Pakistan several times without raising an eyebrow. There, he came in contact with Osama bin Laden, who encouraged him to learn explosives techniques to add to his specialized knowledge, thus creating a deadly cocktail.
After his arrest by Jordanian authorities, he was imprisoned for seventeen months on the charge that he had hatched a plot to bomb Queen Alia International Airport, Amman on the eve of the millennium. After a year-and-half, he was out of jail and promptly left Jordan for North Waziristan to meet Osama bin Laden.
Al Qaeda planted a story that they had killed Khalil Deek and his wife, who was expecting her fifth child. They cited the reason that Khalil Deek was a spy, working for the Jordanian Authorities. The Pakistani army and the ISI also claimed that he had been killed in a raid, but his body was never found.
Khalil Deek moved to the hidden caves in the Hindukush Mountains, in the safe-haven of the al Qaeda. Here he turned into an expert in bomb making. He could now turn a packet of cigarettes, chocolate bars, toothpaste and hairbrushes into deadly devices.
Naturally, Shalim Amār Khan contacted Khalil Deek, to complete project Tupac-II. After setting aside military grade explosives, Shalim Amār Khan discussed other alternatives with Khalil.
Khalil responded, "According to me, semtex is the best option."
Shalim Amār Khan nodded while Khalil Deek continued, "Remember what the investigator of the ill-fated Pan Am Flight 103 said in its official record, '
Only 312 grams of semtex tucked into a Toshiba cassette recorder felled the huge Boeing 747 like a winged mallard'
. The beauty of semtex is that it looks like brick and feels like Play-Doh. You can roll it into any shape. And we should not forget the Vietnamese defeated the American's C-4 with the same semtex during the Vietnam War."
"That's right. In fact, two properties of semtex 1A are very important. It retains its elasticity even when subjected to a wide temperature range and it is waterproof. Thus, semtex is a perfect choice for an underwater blasting."
"But from where can we get it?"Khalil Deek was not sure of the current status of availability of semtex.
"As per my information, the Czech company Omnipol exported seven hundred tons of semtex to Libya. The President of Libya, Colonel Qaddafi supported every terrorist and radical organization: the PLO, Red Brigades, Black September and the Irish Republican Army. He sold semtex all across the globe: from Manila to Belfast and from Slovakia to Chile. But our safest bet lies with our most trusted friend in the Palestine Liberation Organization. I know where the PLO is hiding it."Shalim Amār Khan gave pinpointed information.
"But what about the detection signature?"
"The taggant agent was added to semtex only after 1991. All semtex produced before that is without any detection signature."
"When did Omnipol export semtex to Libya?"
"In late '70s and early '80s"
"So, the Omnipol explosives will not leave any signature."Khalil Deek sounded jubilant. "But the bomb will require other components too."
"True. And the good news is that you can buy the components from local supermarkets."
Khalil Deek nodded while Shalim Amār continued, " Tell me how much time will you take to assemble the product?"
"Less than a year."
"Terrific."A smile spread on Shalim Amār Khan's lips, "And semtex can be rolled into any shape."
"Absolutely. What shape do you want?"
"Fishes."
"Which one?"
"
Hindustāni
Hill trout and mahseer."
"I haven't heard of these species."
"Their Hill Trout is the Snow Trout and the mahseer is Hamilton type."
Khalil Deek grinned. "I'll paint the red bricks with the colour of these fishes. Just show me their pictures."
Part-II
Year 2009
Extradition
The official tenure
of the Indian Ambassador in the USA came to an end. The new Ambassador joined just before Christmas. Juhi finished her under graduation, but did not enrol for a Master's.
The Boeing 777-200LR took off from Newark Liberty. She wondered when she would come back again to the land of opportunity. Had she taken the right decision at the most important juncture of her life? Would she ever meet Aban or were Aban and his memories, a dream she had left behind in the Cornell campus?
Juhi was jolted out of her reverie when the aircraft hit an air pocket. She wanted to remain in her dream, but that was not to be.
Back in Delhi, the Ambassador took up residence in Defence Colony, New Delhi. He was a busy man even after retirement. He played golf at the Delhi Golf Course, spent afternoons at the India Habitat Centre, and still found time to read the books of his favourite authors. Off and on, he would also be invited by different organizations as their Chief Guest. He also became a panellist on foreign affairs in a television channel.
Juhi associated herself with an NGO working for the UNEP sponsored 'Billion Tree Campaign'. Both Aban and Juhi kept in touch with each other, but both were busy with their work.
Aban wanted his
Ammi
to visit America, but every time she applied for a US Visa, the American Consulate in Pakistan rejected her application. Aban could not go to Pakistan until the FBI approved of his travel. Hands tied, he felt completely helpless. He would turn taciturn while talking to his mother on the phone and stare blankly into space. He felt helpless when she sobbed on the phone and whenever he received an email from her. Focusing on Academics became difficult. Even though he had to submit his research paper on 'Water resources system simulation' before the Christmas vacation, he just could not do it. His professor granted him a three-month extension and extended it once again for a fortnight, when he failed to meet the deadline. But it took almost six months of evaluation and constant improvement, before his professor finally approved the paper for publication.
A few days later, he opened his email program and typed, "Santa! Come home this Christmas,"and clicked on the send button.
A week later, an FBI officer met him and asked him to sign a few documents. He seized Aban's passport and the laptop. He was arrested and produced in 65B District Court, which exercised jurisdiction over Ithaca.
The District Attorney presented the call log of Aban's cell phone. It showed several calls made from Lahore to Mumbai on the day of the Mumbai attack. The Mumbai Metropolitan Magistrate had already sent a summons for Aban and the Indian Government had requested Aban's extradition to India so that he could be tried before the Mumbai court.
Aban hired a lawyer, who tried his best to defend his client. The lawyer raised a very valid ground, requesting the court to rethink whether the United States of America could extradite a Pakistani citizen to a country other than that of which he held a citizenship. As per the extradition treaty between the two countries, a national could not be extradited to a third country, in this case India, where a court case was pending against him.
After a lot of deliberation, the Judge reserved judgment, instructing both the State and Aban to be present in the afternoon. The judge retired to his chamber. He received a call from the office of the Attorney General.
The court trial was leaked out to the media, which came running to cover a story of the Mumbai blast accused. In the afternoon, the court pronounced that if a terrorist act had taken place anywhere in the world, where an American citizen was killed, it would be deemed as an Act of Terror against America. Since American citizens were also victims of the Mumbai attack, Aban could be extradited to India, irrespective of Aban's Pakistani citizenship.
Two Indian officers signed a warrant for Aban's extradition. The FBI handed Aban to them. When they came out, media people surrounded Aban and the Indian officers.
One of the reporters directed his salvo at the Indian officer, "Sir, could you please tell us if Mr. Aban Malik is directly involved in the Mumbai attack?"
"When the matter is subjudice in an Indian court, we are not authorized to make any comments,"was the terse response.
Aban shouted, "The
Hindustāni
agencies are trying to fix me. I'm innocent. This is a deliberate set up against all Pakistan nationals."
The camera flashed and captured many images of Aban being shoved into a rented car.
The car sped to JFK Airport.
Plastic Surgery
A private cosmetic
surgery hospital on Al Wasl Road, Dubai, offered a complete makeover solution, using a combination of a cutting-edge laser non-surgical procedure and the more conventional maxillofacial surgery.
Shalim Amār underwent the procedure in July 2009. He revisited the hospital for minor corrections. The laser technique was sufficient to remove small anomalies.
When he came out of the hospital, he was sure that no one could ever recognize him, not even his own family members. Committed to a cause, he was even willing to disown his roots as a descendant of the Nawab of Dir. He was not worried about losing the enormous wealth, which he was to inherit from royalty. He was a satisfied man.
He rechecked his new passport arranged by a trusted friend in Dubai. He had already made several trips to Russia, the Gaza strip, Egypt, India, United Kingdom and many other countries during the last one year.
The next day, he went to the Indian Embassy. The passport officer was impressed with his profile and took no time to stamp a multiple-entry visa.
His chauffeur took only an hour and half to drive the Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupé from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. Finally, Shalim Amār checked into the luxury suite of Emirates Palace. He reconfirmed the schedule with Hussein Pharma about the arrival of a few others. He was to board a yacht with his Indian guests along with Saeed al-Masri, the financial chief of al Qaeda, the following day.
Telephone Number
Eleven months had
passed, but the Indian Intelligence had not been able to unravel the mystery of Tupac-II. The images drawn by the graphic experts with the help of the butler of the Intercontinental Hotel were not sufficient. The name starting with
Sun…
was still a mystery. The telephone number 0321-5023113 was untraceable and also nothing worthwhile was coming in from Indian Agents in Pakistan.
Siddhartha Rana had co-ordinated with several Indian law enforcement and intelligence agencies: R&AW, CBI, the State intelligence, ED and DRI. He was also in constant touch with the international agencies: CIA, MI-6, FSB, Mossad, BND, ASIS, DGSE and Interpol. Although some plots of the Mumbai attack had started to get unravelled, none of the agencies were even remotely aware of Tupac-II.
Finally, in October 2009, an Indian agent in Pakistan rang up Siddhartha Rana, "I've got some very interesting facts about the mysterious number 0321-5023113. As per the Pakistani telecom department, there is no STD code 0321."The caller gave Siddhartha some analogous codes: 07321 of Liaqatpur, 05321 of Khar in Pakistan that did exist. "The last three digits 321 are common STD digits for both the places. However, my hunch is that it should be Khar, in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border."
"Why do you think it is Khar?"
"Till recently it was one of the strongholds of al Qaeda. I can feel it in my bones that al Qaeda is involved."
"Oh!"Siddhartha sighed.
"This number was used very frequently till the Mumbai attack. I got hold of the shopkeeper, who issued the SIM card. However, the shopkeeper had a very vague recollection of his features. He divulged that he had sold the SIM card to some Gilani. I tried to trace Gilani, but could not. Later on, when I analysed the call record, I found that on 13
th
March 2007, this phone was powered on at Chitral Airport in Pakistan. It caught the signal till a bridge on the Kunar River on Chitral-Masjud road. After four hours of complete silence, the cell phone started to catch the signal once again when the owner of this phone returned to Chitral Airport. Of course, he switched it off again when his flight took off. Now, the plot thickens here. Four other cell phone numbers followed the same pattern. All caught the network signal till the same bridge, went silent for few hours and again caught the signal from the bridge to the airport. The phone number 0321-5023113 was used for the last time at the JFK Airport, New York. All cell phones became completely silent when the Pakistani Government and the FBI started to investigate. However, one cell phone is still in use."
"What's that number?"Siddhartha was getting excited.
"The number is…"
Siddhartha wrote down the cell phone numbers on a sheet of paper. "Interesting! One of the cell numbers seems to have been issued by an Indian telecom company."Siddhartha was thinking aloud, "This cell phone number is a highly-secured number, issued only to the officers of the intelligence department: R&AW, Military Intelligence and IB. Even the records of these numbers are not kept with the telecom companies. The government of India has a long-term arrangement with the telecom companies, who are paid one-time service usage charges for five years. The DCS-1400 series encrypted calls cannot be monitored or intercepted by any authority since a single dedicated spectrum belonging to the military bandwidth is used."
The man continued, "There is another twist to the story. After a long period of silence, this number is active today once again. I traced that the same number has called a person, who has checked into the Hotel Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi."
Siddhartha was surprised as to how this man in Pakistan could trace an encrypted call. He asked, "From where did he call Abu Dhabi?"
"Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi."
"Where is the present location of the person?"
"Don't know. The line went dead. It seemed as if all traces were swallowed up by the Persian Gulf."
Siddhartha contacted Robert McLean and provided all the details he had got from this man from Pakistan. "Get some information on Gilani. And I need the help of the FBI office in Abu Dhabi to chip in."