New Delhi: At first, he didn’t exist. Then he was declared dead. But 14 years after he and his team plotted the 26/11 attack in Mumbai, Pakistan seems to have “arrested” global terrorist and Lashkar-eTaiba (LeT) commander Sajid Mir, who is probably in his late 40s and carries an FBI bounty of $5 million on his head.
The development is seen as a desperate attempt by Pakistan to get out of the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental entity that tracks terror financing and money laundering. Mir is wanted by the US government and the next possible course of action seems his extradition and trial in American soil. At least six US citizens were killed in the 26/11 attacks.
The FBI describes Mir as someone who once wore a beard and hair down to his shoulders. He, it says, may have altered his appearance through plastic surgery and holds him responsible for directing preparations and reconnaissance and being one of the Pakistan-based controllers during the 26/11 attacks.
Also, Mir allegedly conspired to commit a terrorist attack against a newspaper and its employees in Denmark between 2008 and 2009.
He was the banned LeT’s foreign recruiter and the main handler for American terrorist David Coleman Headley alias Dawood Gilani. Intelligence dossier on him say he made bases in Dubai, Qatar, Syria and Thailand to conduct the Pakistan-backed terrorist outfit’s operations.
