Police in India's capital New Delhi claimed on Monday that they had arrested a key suspect involved in the planning of the deadly attacks on multiple locations in the country's commercial hub Mumbai four years ago.
Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Hamza alias Abu Jindal, 30, is reported to have been picked up from the capital's Indira Gandhi International Airport.
"The person who goes by the pseudonym of Abu Jindal has been apprehended and remanded to the custody of our law enforcement agencies," Interior Minister P. Chidambaram was quoted as saying by the Indian media.
He is being described as one of the six "handlers" of the ten Pakistani gunmen who carried out the deadly 26/11 Mumbai attacks in which 165 people, including foreigners, were killed. Nine gunmen also died in the incident that lasted more than 60 hours.
The sole surviving gunman from the attacks, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, was sentenced to death after being convicted of murder and waging war on India in May 2010.
Attacks on the western Indian city began on November 26, 2008 targeting landmark luxury hotels, the main railway station and a Jewish cultural center.
India-Pak relations plummeted to the bottom after India blamed the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the meticulously executed attacks. After initial denials, Pakistan acknowledged that the assault had been partially planned on its territory and that Qasab was a Pak national.
External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna congratulated the Delhi Police for the arrest. "The Delhi police have been doing a magnificent job. Let them go through the investigation, they will then send a report to the government and we shall act accordingly," he said.
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