Report: India foils Pakistani terror plot targeting Israeli, US consulates

'Times of India' reports security agencies learned of plot after interrogating Sri Lankan allegedly hired by a Pakistani official.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Indian police on patrol 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Indian police on patrol 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Indian authorities obtained information indicating that Pakistani intelligence services were in the planning stages of organizing a terrorist attack against the Israeli mission in Bengaluru as well as the American consulate in Chennai, according to a report in Sunday editions of the Times of India.
According to the report, Indian security agencies learned of the plot after interrogating a Sri Lankan national who was allegedly hired by a Pakistani official to conduct reconnaissance of the two diplomatic missions.
The suspect, Sakir Hussain, was arrested last week after Indian authorities acted on intelligence provided by other countries.
According to the Times of India, Hussain is said to have told his Indian interrogators that the Pakistani intelligence outfit, ISI, was planning to send two men from Maldives to Chennai, and that his task was to arrange for their travel documents and hideouts.
Indian authorities were reportedly tipped off to Hussain by intelligence agencies in an unnamed southeast Asian country which had gotten wind of plots to target Israeli and American diplomatic missions, the Times of India said.
Indian investigators reportedly found incriminating evidence against Hussain, including pictures of the US and Israeli consulates and their immediate surroundings and access points. According to the Times of India, these photographs were electronically mailed to Hussain’s handlers in Pakistan.
A Pakistani official based in Sri Lanka denied the Times of India report, attributing the allegations of an alleged terrorist plot as part of a “malicious media campaign.”
Israel's foreign missions have in years past proven to be vulnerable targets of terrorism, particularly in Asia.
Last month, a Thai newspaper reported that authorities thwarted a plan by Hezbollah agents to attack Israeli tourists during this Passover season.
According to the Bangkok Post, investigators in Thailand managed to extract a confession from one of two suspected terrorists held in custody for allegedly planning to strike at Israelis in the country.
In 2012, the wife of a Defense Ministry official stationed at the embassy in India was wounded when a bomb exploded in her car as she drove near the prime minister’s residence in New Delhi.