Govt ignored RAW inputs on Mumbai attacks

New Delhi: Intelligence failure is one of the reasons why terrorists were able to attack Mumbai with such a relative ease, say the police

Reports now suggest that there were specific intelligence inputs but they simply were not followed through to stop the terrorists before they attacked Mumbai.

A massive intelligence goof-up allowed a 10-member Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist group to hit Mumbai.

Senior officials of India's external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) have confirmed specific intelligence inputs were sent to the Navy and Coast Guard.

In September, RAW intercepted a satellite phone conversation between Mohammad Muzammil, a known Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative and a local unknown contact in Mumbai.

It revealed a terror plot by the sea route to target a hotel at the Gateway of India. Other sea-front hotels in Mumbai were to be targetted as well.

This information was passed on to the Intelligence Bureau (IB), which passed it on to Maharashtra police. But Director general of Police (Maharashtra) AN Roy maintained there was no specific input. Also Mumbai Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor even ruled out the possibility of local logistical support.

"I had no specific intelligence warning about this," Gafoor had said on Tuesday.

On November 19, RAW's technical intelligence came up with another input that should have activated all security agencies in India.

A monitored satellite phone conversation revealed a group of unknown people will be "reaching Bombay between 9 (2100 hrs IST) and 11 (2300 hrs IST) PM". The signal was located 60 km from the Karachi coast.

A RAW spy plane also made visual confirmation of the ship. The ship is believed to be Al Hussaini on which LeT terrorists had set sail from a small port, Azizabad, near Karachi.

These specific inputs were passed on to National Security Advisor MK Narayanan, the National Security Council Secretariat and the Joint Intelligence Committee.

It was passed on to the Maharashtra government, to the Coast Guard and Navy as well. But the Navy chief says the information was generic.

"Actionable in that a point in time, at a particular place in respect of a specific thing. It's easy. India is under threat from terrorists. iD that actionable intelligence," said Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta.

Approximately four days after RAW claims to have given these coordinates - 24.16. 36 N and 67.02.04 E - the LeT vessel possibly entered Indian waters.

The terrorists hijacked Kuber, a fishing trawler registered in Porbandar, killed four crew members and forced the other two to navigate the ship to Mumbai, before killing them.

Even here, the Coast Guard goofed up. The terrorists flashed fishermen ID cards issued from Porbandar when the Coast Guard did intercept them. Yet, a full inspection of the trawler was not done.

"This particular vessel was challenged by the Coast Guards. They showed the papers and moved on. So this is perhaps a lacuna which exists," said Admiral Mehta.

It is the National Security Advisor who coordinates all intelligence that is received by various government agencies, which he then collates to brief the Prime Minister.

Indian intelligence agencies are playing a game of musical chairs. They are busy passing the buck to each other.

Surely something went wrong and it's time the government made a full disclosure of what exactly went wrong so that the gaps in the intelligence setup could be fixed.

(With inputs from Manoj Gupta)

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