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The Central Bureau of Investigation team that probed the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC 814 to Kandahar in Afghanistan would be looking into any possible links between the hijackers and the terrorists who attacked New York's World Trade Centre and the Pentagon building near Washington with hijacked planes.
A CBI source confirmed that the agency had taken note of reports, which appeared in some national dailies about the Bombay police looking into possible links between the hijackers of IC 814 and the terrorists who carried out the terror attacks in New York and Washington.
"We are in touch with the Bombay police. We do not rule out linkages between the two incidents or those involved. There are some similarities in the modus operandi in the two cases."
"The hijackers of IC 814 wanted to secure the release of some terrorists and were even prepared to die if it came to that," the source revealed.
One of the terrorists, who received four months of intensive training in Khost, during the course of the hijacking investigation admitted that most of the terrorist training camps in Afghanistan were being funded by Osama bin Laden.
"I shared a tent with 12 Kashmiris. I knew only them and no one else," the terrorist told interrogators. He claimed to have received intensive training in firearms in the camp.
Though Osama bin Laden never visited these camps in person, his sidekicks visited the place and met the new recruits from time to time, the CBI source said.
The CBI knows for certain that Maulana Masood Azhar, who was among the three persons released during the IC 814 hijacking, has links with Osama bin Laden who gives funds to Azhar's outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad, the sources said.
The CBI and intelligence officials, however, admitted that they have no clue of the whereabouts of Ahmed Omar Sheikh, who was freed from Jammu jail (along with Azhar and Sheikh Ahmed Zargar).
Twenty-seven-year-old Sheikh is a graduate from the London School of Economics.
Interpol has launched an international manhunt for Sheikh as he is believed to have links with Osama and could have been involved in the terrorist attacks on the WTC.
Top intelligence officials believe that the United States is finding it difficult to trace the money laundered by Osama bin Laden because of banking secrecy laws.
However, in view of recent incidents, amendments may be brought in so that these secrecy laws do not apply to those wanted by any country for criminal acts, a senior intelligence officer said.
The Attack on America: The Complete Coverage IC 814 hijacking: The Complete Coverage
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