Iran link confirmed in Israeli embassy car blast
Delhi Police made it clear that the three Iranians behind the terror plot are not Iranian officials.
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India has intimated Iran about the involvement of three Iranian nationals in the February attack on an Israeli diplomat in Delhi after clear links emerged between parallel terror plots in New Delhi and in Bangkok.
The home ministry confirmed on Friday that Housan Afshar Irani, who stuck a magnetic bomb on the vehicle of the diplomat at 3:15 pm on February 13, fled to Kuala Lampur on a Malaysian Airlines flight at 11:10 pm the same night from the IGI Airport.
Delhi police commissioner B.K. Gupta said Irani was in touch on phone with Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, the operational head of the module that carried out a similar attack in Bangkok.
Sedaghatzadeh fled from Bangkok on February 14 for Kuala Lampur but was arrested on a tip-off from the Thai authorities.
Unlike the alert Thai officials, the Intelligence Bureau under the home ministry goofed up on Irani who managed to pass the immigration check in Delhi eight hours after the attack.
By that time, another bombing plot in Georgia was exposed and Israel had already pointed at Iran as the suspect. But the Indian immigration authorities failed to detain Irani on suspicion.
No alert was passed on to Kuala Lampur as well. Irani was believed to have later taken a flight from Kuala Lampur to Tehran.
The other two Iranians, who conducted the reconnaissance in Delhi for Irani, had left India much before the attack.
India will now issue Red Corner Interpol notices against the three Iranians.
Gupta, however, made it clear that the three Iranians behind the terror plot are not "Iranian officials", thereby hinting at the theory that non-state actors are behind the attack. This has saved India avert a potential diplomatic tussle with Iran.
The slip-up in India highlights that little has changed since David Headley exposed the loopholes in our immigration security by repeatedly entering India on a business visa and then travelling to Pakistan after carrying out a reconnaissance for the 26/11 attacks.
The home ministry confirmed on Friday that Housan Afshar Irani, who stuck a magnetic bomb on the vehicle of the diplomat at 3:15 pm on February 13, fled to Kuala Lampur on a Malaysian Airlines flight at 11:10 pm the same night from the IGI Airport.
Sedaghatzadeh fled from Bangkok on February 14 for Kuala Lampur but was arrested on a tip-off from the Thai authorities.
Unlike the alert Thai officials, the Intelligence Bureau under the home ministry goofed up on Irani who managed to pass the immigration check in Delhi eight hours after the attack.
By that time, another bombing plot in Georgia was exposed and Israel had already pointed at Iran as the suspect. But the Indian immigration authorities failed to detain Irani on suspicion.
No alert was passed on to Kuala Lampur as well. Irani was believed to have later taken a flight from Kuala Lampur to Tehran.
The other two Iranians, who conducted the reconnaissance in Delhi for Irani, had left India much before the attack.
India will now issue Red Corner Interpol notices against the three Iranians.
Gupta, however, made it clear that the three Iranians behind the terror plot are not "Iranian officials", thereby hinting at the theory that non-state actors are behind the attack. This has saved India avert a potential diplomatic tussle with Iran.
The slip-up in India highlights that little has changed since David Headley exposed the loopholes in our immigration security by repeatedly entering India on a business visa and then travelling to Pakistan after carrying out a reconnaissance for the 26/11 attacks.
