Terrorists communicated via VoIP in 26/11 attacks: Callphonex

Mumbai, Aug 18 (PTI) A US-based witness Tuesday told a
special court here in western Indian city of Mumbai that the
gunmen involved in the 26/11 attacks had used the VoIP service
of "Callphonex" to make calls to their Pakistani handlers.

The witness, owner of Callphonex, is the fourth to
reveal Pakistan's link to the November 26 terror attacks case.

"The 26/11 terrorists were in constant touch with
their handlers in Pakistan through Voice over Internet
Protocol (VoIP) account they had opened in October last year,"
the witness told the court via video link from Canada.

The witness told the court that on October 20, he had
received a mail from one "Kharak Singh" from the email account
'kharaktelco2yahoo.com', who said he was from India,
expressing desire to open an account with Callphonex.

"We had provided them with three facilities - 15 calls
from computer to phone, 10 calls to common client accounts
and direct inward dialing," the witness told special public
prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

According to Nikam, the conspirators had made several
test calls to Mumbai prior to the attack.

"At least 150 test calls were made between November 24
and 26," he told PTI.

Nikam told the court that besides the calls made
through VoIP, the slain terrorists had also used the mobiles
of victims to make calls to their handlers.

The witness told the court that two payments were made
for this account - one was wired via Moneygram on October 25,
2008 with the sender identifying himself as Muhammed Ishfaq,
while the second payment was wired on November 25, 2008 via
Western Union Money Transfer and the sender had identified
himself as Javed Iqbal.

In the court, Kasab was seen keenly watching the
deposition and was frequently getting up from his seat to get
a clearer view of the screen.

Nikam submitted a computerised list of calls made
through VoIP to Pakistani handlers.

The witness told the court the records are computer
generated and there is no chance of tampering with them.

"I received the last email from Kharak Singh on
November 25 regarding the payment," he said.

"The first time I did not suspect when the payment was
made from Pakistan. The second time when the payment was again
made from Pakistan I had my doubts but I did not do anything
about it," the witness said.

He further told the court that he was contacted by the
FBI in November but at that time he was not aware that his
service had been misused.

"I realised this when I was questioned by the FBI," he
said denying defence lawyer Abbas Kazmi's contention that he
had actively aided terrorists. PTI SVS