US consulate terror plot: India to seek info from Malaysia

New Delhi, May 18: India will soon approach Malaysian authorities seeking details about the arrest of a Sri Lankan national in that country in connection with an alleged conspiracy to carry out terror strikes on the US and Israel consulates in southern part of this country.

Malaysia, which had recently tipped a central security agency in India about possible attack on US and Israeli consulates in Chennai and Bangalore, arrested a Lankan national from Kepong near Kuala Lumpur last Wednesday.

The Special Malaysian unit was monitoring the man, whose identity was not disclosed, since December last year after it was found he was allegedly involved in plans to carry out terror attacks in India, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Bakri Zinin had said after making his arrest public.

The leads in the case surfaced while Malaysian authorities were probing money laundering and human trafficking cases. Sakir Hussain, a Sri Lankan national, was suspected to be talking to ISI officers and allegedly planning to carry out terror strikes on the two consulates.

The arrests by the Malaysian authorities was a follow up of nabbing of Hussain and his subsequent interrogation which was shared with agencies in Kuala Lumpur and Colombo.

Now the Tamil Nadu police, through diplomatic channels, would approach Malaysian authorities for sharing the interrogation report of the arrested Lankan national, official sources said today.

Hussain told his interrogators that he had been hired allegedly by an official in Pakistani High Commission in Colombo to conduct reconnaissance of US Consulate in Chennai and Israeli Consulate in Bengaluru.

Arrested on April 29 in a coordinated operation involving various Malaysia and Sri Lanka, he is reported to have told the interrogators that the Pakistan's spy agency was planning to send two men from Maldives to Chennai and that he had to arrange for their travel documents and hideouts.

PTI