The terror attacks that rocked Hyderabad in May and August this year were reportedly planned by Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) men who had infiltrated into India with the help of the Border Security Force.

In March 2007, five ISI agents sneaked into India through the Bangladesh border, allegedly with the help of the BSF.

Their brief was to target Hyderabad and the man behind the operation was Shahid Bilal, a local resident and a key ISI functionary.

This and more sensitive information were provided to the Hyderabad police by the Forensic Science Laboratory, Karnataka, after conducting the narco analysis of Sameer in April this year. Sameer is an ISI operator, who was arrested by the BSF and West Bengal police while crossing the Indo-Bangladesh border. He was brought to Bangalore for the analysis.

Ferrying jehadis

During the analysis, Sameer revealed that his job was to bring ISI jehadis to India for plotting and executing terror attacks in the country to bring down its economic growth.

He said he has been working for the ISI for the last two years and on the instruction of Shahid, he sneaked in five ISI agents from Pakistan and Bangladesh to India early this year to strike Hyderabad.

“He said they were in Hyderabad. Sameer carried with him 10 kilos of RDX given by Shahid. This he handed over to one Imran in Hyderabad,” said a highly placed source.

On receiving the information, the FSL, Karnataka on April 19, alerted the Hyderabad police about three of the agents and possible terror attacks.

“In May, the Mecca Masjid was attacked. Sameer was once again brought to Bangalore for a second narco analysis. He said, out of the five infiltrators, two had returned to Bangladesh and the rest stayed back to strike Hyderabad.

He gave the names of Imran and Rafi, both local residents but ISI sympathisers. Sameer said that Rafi’s brothers were ISI agents and belonged to Shahid’s group,” said the source.

BSF contacts

Sameer hails from Maharashtra but stays in West Bengal. “He has made good contacts with some BSF jawans and with their help, he sneaks in Pakistanis and Bangladeshis into India. He is well versed with the border terrain and hoodwinks the BSF,” he charged.

Sameer has also reportedly said that Shahid’s right hand Amzad is originally from Maharashtra, but is based in Bangladesh. “Their key activity is to strike terror in India. These attacks are funded by the ISI and depending on the operation, the strikers are paid anywhere between Rs 50,000 and Rs 5 lakh for an attack,” said the officer.

On how the terror groups make local contacts, he said that they brainwash them and train them to become jehadis. “They have good local support. Part of the money is also shared with some local people,” said Sameer.
Though the Pakistan media last month confirmed the death of Shahid Bilal in an encounter, the Indian intelligence agencies have so far no confirmation on this. “We have no official communication on the death of Bilal. We only read it in newspapers,” said an Intelligence officer.