Tags:
Journalism of Courage
After failing to get Consular access to Indian “suspects” who were allegedly members of an Islamic terrorist cell planning an attack in Barcelona, the Indian Government rushed a team of sleuths to Spain to verify the antecedents of the detained men.
The team, comprising an official from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and one from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) returned on Wednesday after a three-day trip to Madrid, but their attempts to get access to the Indians met with little success.
Sources said the two officials had informed the Government that while only one Indian suspect, Roshan Jamaat Khan hailing from Mumbai remained in prison, there was no clarity about the nationality of two other men, who were also being questioned by the Spanish authorities. These two men have no clear documentation to prove their nationality and as yet there is only a suspicion that they could also be Indians.
Another Indian “suspect”, Sarosh Ali Mohammed of Hyderabad, along with a few detained Pakistanis, has been released from prison.
The Indian team, officials said, were offered all courtesies by Spanish officials but were not permitted a meeting with Roshan Jamaat Khan or an access to the unidentified suspects. The Government had decided to dispatch the team to Madrid since a formal request to Barcelona through Interpol channels for details on the Indian suspects has still not been responded to.
The Indian team, therefore, had to be satisfied with a meeting with the Director General of the Spanish Interior Ministry and an audience with two key investigators of the Spanish Police, who are handling the probe.
It was on January 19 that the Spanish Interior Minister had disclosed that 14 South Asians, including two Indians, had been arrested in connection with a suspected terror plot and that bomb-making material had also been recovered during raids on some of their residences.
The Minister, AlfredoPerez Rubalcaba, had alleged the suspects had “stockpiled” bomb-making materials, including timers and ball-bearings, and were “ready to act” when their plot was foiled by the police.
