Sunday, November 22, 2009

Italian Police Arrest Two Pakistanis Linked to Mumbai Attacks

By Chiara Remondini

Nov. 21 2009 (Bloomberg) -- Italian police today arrested two Pakistani nationals who were charged with aiding terrorists in connection with the Mumbai attacks in November 2008.

The men were detained in the northern town of Brescia, where they have a money-transfer agency, Stefano Fonsi, head of the local Digos special-police force, said by telephone.

The day before the Mumbai attacks, the suspects transferred money to activate a voice-over-Internet-protocol phone account used by the terrorists and their accomplices, Fonsi said.

The investigation that led to the arrests started in December 2008 after the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Indian police alerted Italian authorities that the money for the phone lines had come from Brescia, Fonsi said.

The Mumbai terrorist attacks began on Nov. 26 and militants struck two luxury hotels, a railway terminal and a building housing a Jewish center, killing about 200 people.

To contact the reporters on this story: Chiara Remondini

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