David Headley confession: ISI wanted me to recruit an employee from BARC

PakistaniAmerican terrorist David Headley today told a court here that ISI and LeT wanted to target Mumbai airport and Naval air station during the 2611 terror attack and that he had videographed Bhabha Atomic Research Centre BARC and was asked to recruit someone from there to work with the Pakistani spy agencyTestifying via videolink from the US he also told the court he was interested in developing close relations with a Shiv Sena member as he thought that LeT would be interested in future to either attack Sena Bhavan or assassinate its headDavid HeadleyMajor Iqbal expressed disapproval of certain areas I had recced as targets I felt that Major Iqbal was unhappy because Mumbai airport was not selected and included as one of the targets for the 2611 attack Headley said In another major revelation Headley said he had videographed BARC at Trombay in Mumbai in July 2008 and that LeT had asked him to recruit some employee of BARC who would work for ISII also visited and videographed BARC Major Iqbal told me that in some future date I should recruit some employee of BARC who would give us classified information and would be ready to work for the ISI Headley said adding that he had handed over the video to Sajid Mir and Major IqbalIn further disclosures 55yearold Headley who recently turned approver in the 2611 case said that after he had recced Mumbai he had several meetings in Pakistan withLeT leader ZakiurRehman Lakhvi Sajid Mir Abu Kahfa and Abdul Rehman Pasha and Major IqbalHeadley revealed that during his last visit to Mumbai in July 2008 prior to the 2611 attacks he had surveyed and videographed the Chabad House in south Mumbai I dont know who was staying there Sajid Mir and Pasha asked me to survey this place and said that it was an international location as it had Jewish and Israeli people he saidHeadley said he discouraged the LeT about Naval air station and Siddhivinayak temple as targets for the attack I discouraged them LeT about Naval air station and Siddhivinayak temple as targets as then all the ten attackers would have had to concentrate on one target only he saidHe further disclosed that during this visit he had also gone to Siddhivinayak temple and made a video of it I purchased the red and yellow wrist bands I forget the name of it I thought that the ten youths could wear it as a cover so that people would think they were IndiansNobody asked me to do so I saw a man selling it outside the temple so the thought occurred to me After I returned to Pakistan I gave those wrist bands to Sajid Mirand explained to him that practising Hindus in India wear this and hence it would be a good idea if the ten gentlemen attackers also wear it as it would look like they areHindus he saidHeadley also said that during his last visit he had purchased five books from a shop at the Taj Hotel During the same visit I also visited the Nalanda book shop inside Taj Hotel where I purchased five books One of the books was Indian Army Vision 2020 I was interested to know the progress of the Indian Army in the future he saidWhen Judge G A Sanap asked Headley why he had purchased the other four books he said The other books were pictorial and beautiful hence I purchased them There isnothing sinister about those books The first book was sinisterHeadley told the court that he had finalised Badhwar Park in Cuffe Parade as a landing site for the ten attackers as the area is covered with shanties and hutments from themain road and hence he thought it would give tactical advantage to the terroristsIn May 2008 I visited US I could not meet Tahawwur Rana Headleys business partner but I spoke with him on the phone I said that I had gone to India and selected landing site he saidHeadley said that LeT commander ZakiurRehman wanted to finalise Gateway of India as the landing site for the 10 terrorists as it was very close to the Taj hotel I however said it was not a good idea as the attackers would be required to go through Gateway of India by crossing naval installation and they could be detected Zaki Sahab and others agreed to my suggestion he saidWhen Zaki Sahab saw the targets I had selected he said this was very important and has to be done properly Zaki Sahab said surveillance for the attacks should be done properly He said this would give a chance to take revenge for all the bomb blasts India had done in the past in PakistanZaki Sahab wished me good luck he saidHe told the court that the idea to divide the ten terrorists in different groups was also discussed in one of the meetings in PakistanHeadley is serving a 35year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killedWith inputs from Sailee Dhayalkar