Washington/New Delhi, Nov 10 (IANS) Indian intelligence officials have left the US for home after being denied permission by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to question American national David Coleman Headley, who was arrested at Chicago airport on charges of plotting a major terror attack in India at the behest of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
The investigation team comprising officers of the Research & Analysis Wing, India’s external intelligence agency, and the Intelligence Bureau were not given permission by the FBI that cited procedural issues, sources said.

The five-member team was keen to question Headley to find out if he was in touch with the masterminds of the LeT and if he attended any of the training camps the ten Pakistan-based terrorists went through for the 26/11 terror strikes.

Information provided by the FBI revealed that Headley operated a visa agency in Mumbai for almost two years until July 2008 and had travelled to India on business visas nine times between 2006 and 2009.

The Indian intelligence team arrived in Washington on Nov 1.

According to the FBI, Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin, were in touch with senior LeT operatives and other top terrorists in Pakistan, including Ilyas Kashmiri, a terrorist with links to Al Qaeda and the Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami (HuJI), a Pakistan-based terrorist outfit.

This is not the first time that US authorities have refused such permission.

In July 2002, India wanted to quiz Afghanistan foreign minister under the Taliban regime, Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil on the IC-814 plane hijack.

Wakil acted as an interlocutor at Kandahar after the hijacked IC-814 flight landed there and played a key role in the negotiations.

At that time India wanted Wakil to shed more details into the intricacies of the hijack, contacts that hijackers had with the outside world, including instructions and logistical support they received from Pakistan.