How childhood friend David Headley's testimony exposed Tahawwur Rana's role in 26/11 Mumbai attacks

Tahawwur Hussain Rana, one of the key accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, is being extradited to India on Thursday via a special flight, after the US Supreme Court rejected his final appeal to block the move.

Earlier, a US court had cleared the way for his extradition, ruling that the Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman can be sent to India, where he faces charges related to the 2008 Mumbai attacks carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists.

According to prison officials quoted by news agency PTI, Tahawwur Rana is expected to be kept in a high-security ward at Delhi’s Tihar Jail upon his arrival in India. They added that all necessary arrangements have already been made for his custody.

Tahawwur Rana, 64, is known to be a close associate of David Coleman Headley (also known as Daood Gilani), a US citizen and a key conspirator in the attacks. The Mumbai attacks began on November 26, 2008, when 10 Pakistani terrorists entered the city via the Arabian Sea and launched coordinated assaults on a railway station, two five-star hotels, and a Jewish centre.

The attacks lasted nearly 60 hours, killing 166 people and injuring hundreds.

How Headley's testimony exposed Tahawwur Rana

According to the US Department of Justice, David Headley testified that he attended five Lashkar-e-Taiba training camps in Pakistan between 2002 and 2005. Lashkar is a designated foreign terrorist organisation.

In late 2005, Headley was instructed by Lashkar members to go to India for surveillance, which he did five times in the years leading up to the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Around mid-2006, Headley and two Lashkar operatives discussed the idea of setting up an immigration office in Mumbai to serve as a cover for surveillance.

Headley testified that he then went to Chicago and informed Tahawwur Rana—his close friend from high school in Pakistan—about his assignment to identify potential targets in India.

Headley said Rana approved the plan and allowed him to use his business, First World Immigration Services, to set up a Mumbai office as a front.

Tahawwur Rana also instructed a First World employee to help with supporting documents and gave guidance on how Headley could obtain a visa for travel to India.

Headley’s claims were supported by emails and other documents, according to the US Justice Department.

From November 26 to 28, 2008, 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba-trained terrorists launched coordinated attacks across Mumbai using guns, grenades, and IEDs. Targets included the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Oberoi Hotel, Leopold Café, Chabad House, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus—all of which had been reconnoitered in advance by David Headley.

In a separate plot, Headley admitted that in early November 2008, he met with a Lashkar member in Karachi, who instructed him to carry out surveillance of the offices of Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten in Copenhagen and Aarhus. This was in retaliation for the publication of cartoons of Prophet Mohammed.

After the Mumbai attacks, in late 2008 and early 2009, Headley reviewed his activities with Tahawwur Rana and informed him about the planned attack on the Danish paper and his intended travel to Denmark for surveillance.