The key accused in the Pune German Bakery blast has made a startling revelation to his interrogators — that the tourist destination of Colombo is a training hub of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.
Mirza Himayat Baig, 29, the conspirator and co-planter of the bomb placed at Pune’s German Bakery, has confirmed he received his terror training in Colombo. “Baig had received training in terror activities in Colombo. We will try to get more information on the same from him,” said ATS chief Rakesh Maria.
A source said another reason for the LeT choosing Colombo could be because of its image as a tourist destination among Indians. “There are a lot of Indian tourists in Colombo and such visits are not under the scanner. Moreover, they were of the opinion that the radar would be on LTTE operatives who might still be lying low, so Islamic terrorists had a good chance of going unnoticed,” he said.
Baig received Daura-e-aam and Daura-e-khaas training in Colombo, the same training imparted to Ajmal Aamir Kasab in Pakistan. The police is now getting details from Baig of where in Colombo the training camp was held. “We will pass on the information through the right channels as it will help the Sri Lankan police identify these patches and keep a watch,” said another source.