Aborted Mission:Did Mossad attempt to infiltrate Islamic radical outfits in south Asia?
Source: TheWeek
Published: Feb 6, 2000
Author: Subir Bhaumik



Aborted mission
Investigation: Did Mossad attempt to infiltrate Islamic radical outfits in south Asia?

Subir Bhaumik
Feb 6, 2000

On January 12 (2000)Indian intelligence officials in Calcutta detained 11 foreign nationals for interrogation before they were to board a Dhaka-bound Bangladesh Biman flight. They were detained on the suspicion of being hijackers. "But we realised that they were tabliqis (Islamic preachers), so we let them go," said an intelligence official. They had planned to attend an Islamic convention near Dhaka, but Bangladesh refused them visa. Later, seemingly under Israeli pressure, India allowed them to fly to Tel Aviv.

Where's the catch? The secret circular that warned of a possible hijack

"They had landing permits at Dhaka, but that's not visa," said a diplomat in the Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi. "We decided not to entertain them anymore because we cannot take chances."

The eleven had Israeli passports but were believed to be Afghan nationals who had spent a while in Iran. They had secured landing permits for Dhaka and one- way tickets on Bangladesh Biman's Calcutta-Delhi route through a Delhi-based travel agency.

"We have a right to deny travel facility to a passenger even if he has a valid ticket on security grounds," said a Bangladeshi Biman official who did not want to be named. To the Bangladesh Biman officials the eleven, who were all Muslims, appeared "too murky".

Indian intelligence officials, too, were surprised by the nationality profile of the eleven. "They are surely Muslims; they say that they have been on tabligh (preaching Islam) in India for two months. But they are Israeli nationals from the West Bank," said a Central Intelligence official.

He claimed that Tel Aviv "exerted considerable pressure" on Delhi to secure their release. "It appeared that they could be working for a sensitive organisation in Israel and were on a mission to Bangladesh," the official said. The Israeli intelligence outfit, Mossad, is known to recruit Shia Muslims to penetrate Islamic radical networks.

"It is not unlikely for Mossad to recruit 11 Afghans in Iran and grant them Israeli citizenship to penetrate a network such as Bin Laden's. They would begin by infiltrating them into an Islamic radical group in an unlikely place like Bangladesh," said intelligence analyst Ashok Debbarma. The pressure exerted on India by Israel for the release of the men, and the hurry with which they were flown back suggested an 'aborted operation'.

Mossad watchers say the operation was possibly blown off by "unwelcome intervention" in a friendly country, and they decided to pull out.

The Calcutta immigration authorities may have laid their hands on the wrong people. They were looking for Islamic radicals attempting hijack.

On January 11, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) issued a top secret circular (NO: ER/BCAS/PIC/CIRCULAR/99), quoting "an intelligence input" about a possible hijack attempt on a Bangladesh Biman aircraft originating out of India. Copies of the circular signed by regional deputy commissioner of security (Calcutta Airport), L. Singsit, were issued to relevant Indian agencies and Bangladesh Biman's station manager in Calcutta, Md. Shahjahan. It said that eight "Pushtu-speaking Mujahideen" had infiltrated into India for the purpose.

The circular also specified the motive behind the hijack: to secure the release of the prime accused in the Mujib-ur-Rehman assassination case including Major (later Colonel) Farooq Rehman and Major Bazlul Huda.

"Dhaka told us to take no chances," said a Bangladesh Biman official. The Sheikh Hasina government is aware of the international links of the Mujib- killers. While Libya had sheltered some of them in the 70s and early 80s, middle eastern countries helped others evade justice. Major (later Colonel) Khondakhar Abdul Rashid, one of Colonel Farooq's co-plotters, is said to be in Saudi Arabia, where he maintains close links with Pakistan's ISI.

Meanwhile, Indian intelligence officials are still on the hunt for "Pushtu- speaking hijackers". An additional director with Central Intelligence said at least four hijackers were in eastern India.

If the terrorists manage to extricate the likes of Colonel Farooq through a hijack, it will boost the Ôanti-Indian Islamic forces' in Bangladesh, particularly the agitation against the Hasina government.

With a less India-friendly government in Dhaka, Pakistan's ISI could step up its help to the insurgents in the northeast. (The author is BBC's eastern India correspondent)

Maybe Bin Laden is himself an Israeli.

There is overwhelming evidence bin Laden was a CIA asset.

Without a doubt, bin Laden's associate Ali Mohamed was a CIA asset.

The Mossad and the CIA enjoy a very special relationship.

Well, I find it very interesting that the Saudi intelligence service was trailing most of the 9-11 hijackers. 15 of the 19 hijackers, were Saudi.

So was the intelligence service tailing the hijackers..or WERE THEY the hijackers?

In Saudi Arabia, it is ILLEGAL to show a Crusifix or a Star of David. It is illegal to build churches or synagogues. It is illegal to practise any religion, other then Islam, in public.

Saudi Arabia is NOT our friend, and I have no doubt in the next few years, we will find out that they were involved in 9-11.

Please explain how Saudi Arabia managed to have our air defense stand down on 9/11,
shut down Operation Able Danger, and move in two hijackers with an FBI asset.

For over an hour and a half hijacked planes were flying in U.S. airspace, crashing into buildings and not a single hijacked airliner was intercepted. Forget about shooting down an airliner, the job of the air defense assets was to intercept and maintain visual contact with a hijacked airliner. I don't think we can assign blame to the Mossad
or Saudi Arabia for the stand down.

How is having fighter jets in the air, searching for the hijacked planes, a stand down?

Had they not left the runway, now that would be a stand down. Didnt they say the fighters were seconds away from the plane that hit the second tower?

That doesnt sound like a stand down to me. It sounds like a failure to succeed.

We were brought up to believe that America is the greatest, strongest, most powerful force on Earth. Nothing can touch us.

Maybe we were wrong? Its just a thought.