‘Tunda’ disappears
abstract by: John Stephen/300words/23/7/2006
Less than twenty four hours after police in
Kenya announced the capture of top Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Syed Abdul Karim “tunda’,a deep haze has descended on what experts described as the most significant breakthrough for Indian counter-terrorism efforts in years. A spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs told THE HINDU that it was not Karim who was
arrested, but a Nigerian national with a similar name who was arrested on immigration-related charges. The Kenyan
authorities have yet to offer any response to Indian diplomatic requests for information on the arrests, or an explanation of just how police in Mombassa mistook a Nigerian to an Indian national.
On Friday, the Nairobi-based Kenya times said a top terror suspect had been arrested in Mombassa, and then “transferred to Nairobi under a heavy anti- terrorism police guard” before being deported to an unknown country. The newspaper said the terror suspect was linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba bombings in India whose name was later named as Karim by the police. The Kenyan times reporters also wrote that U.S Federal Bureau of investigation and local authorities had sought Karim for the bombings in the Israeli based hotel back in 2002, which claimed 17 lives. Months after the kikambala attacks the U.S treasury department announced that Ibrahim Kaksar’s “smuggling routes from south Asia, the middle east and Africa are shared with Osama-bin-laden and his terrorist network”. Dozen of key Al –Qaeda operatives such as Khalid sheikh Mohammad and Ramzi bin al-Shibh have been controversially held by the U.S in third countries, without charges being brought or, often, even official confirmation of their arrest.
“The information we had was made available by the police and intelligence authorities”, a reporter told THE HINDU. “I had no idea of who Karim or the Lashkar was until I was briefed on the arrest he said. The CBI official told THE HINDU that he found the proposition that mistaken identity might have caused the confusion “completely implausible”. This perception appeared to be shared amongst top officials, notably the Indian Prime Minister.