Chicago, June 2 (IANS) When confessed Pakistani American terrorist David Coleman Headley was arrested at Chicago Airport, he had a map of Copenhagen, a copy of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and a Jewish prayer book, an FBI agent testified Wednesday.
US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Douglas Seccombe was one of the six witnesses, including four FBI agents, who testified Wednesday at the trial of Pakistani born Canadian Tahawwur Rana for providing material support to Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
Two other FBI agents said they helped search Headley’s house and his luggage after he was arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in 2009, Chicago Sun Times reported.
Rana had purchased Headley’s round-trip tickets to Copenhagen using Headley’s American Express, according to court testimony.
Headley said he and his international cohorts had planned to attack newspaper workers in retaliation for the cartoons of prophet Muhammad, behead them and throw their heads out of a window.
Headley also testified that he scouted several Jewish Chabad Houses in India following the Mumbai rampage, in which the city’s Jewish centre was attacked, the Times said.
Although Rana’s lawyers earlier said they have not decided whether Rana will take the stand, they told US District Judge Harry Leinenweber the chances were slim, the daily said.
A computer expert and an Immigration lawyer from Canada are among some of the witnesses Rana’s defence may call during the trial, he said.
Rana, 50, is accused of providing a cover to Headley, who scouted sites for the Mumbai attacks.
Rana’s attorneys maintain that Headley tricked Rana by using Rana’s Indian-based immigration office as a front while he plotted with his cohorts.