After 9/11, Mumbai Police Chased a Man Who Claimed Britain, Australia Were Also Targets
Mumbai Police detained a young man named Mohammed Afroz, who claimed he had been part of an Al-Qaeda-linked conspiracy to carry out similar attacks in Britain and Australia on the same day.
By Sakshi
New Delhi, September 11: On September 11, 2001, 19 Al-Qaeda operatives hijacked four passenger aircraft in the United States. Two planes were flown into New York City’s World Trade Center Twin Towers, while a third crashed into the Pentagon near Washington, DC. The fourth aircraft, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew attempted to regain control of the plane.
Twenty-five years ago, the attacks brought down the iconic Twin Towers and killed nearly 3,000 people, leaving the world in shock.
In the weeks following the attacks, Mumbai Police detained a young man named Mohammed Afroz, who claimed he had been part of an Al-Qaeda-linked conspiracy to carry out similar attacks in Britain and Australia on the same day.
Afroz’s claims triggered an international investigation, with Mumbai Police sending teams to the US, Britain and Australia to verify his account. Mumbai Police Commissioner M N Singh also travelled to Britain and the US as part of the investigation.
Suspicion Over Afroz’s Background
Mumbai Police arrested Afroz in 2001 after becoming suspicious of his overseas travel and pilot training. He was from Cheetah Camp, a low-income neighbourhood in Mumbai, and his father was a tailor.
Police questioned how Afroz, who came from a modest family, had been able to undertake expensive flying courses abroad. His overseas training included time in Australia, Britain and the US. Contemporary reports said investigators suspected that someone else may have financed his training.
Afroz was eventually picked up from Hotel Abbott in Vashi, Navi Mumbai.
Alleged Plan to Attack British Parliament
During interrogation, Mumbai Police said Afroz claimed he had been recruited by Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda and trained as part of a group preparing to carry out attacks on targets in several countries.
According to the police account, Afroz was part of a team that was allegedly supposed to hijack a flight from London’s Heathrow Airport to Manchester on September 11, 2001, and crash it into the British Parliament.
Police the plan could not be carried out after the attacks in the US led to the grounding of flights and a major tightening of airport security, said media reports.
Afroz reportedly told investigators that he had received pilot training in Australia, Britain and the US. Police also alleged that he had been introduced to extremist networks in Australia and that other groups were assigned to targets including Melbourne’s Rialto Towers and India’s Parliament.
Contemporary reports also said Afroz claimed that his training had been financed by individuals linked to the conspiracy. However, these claims were allegations made during the investigation and were not independently established in court.
Alleged Melbourne Target
Afroz’s claims also attracted attention in Australia, where authorities investigated an alleged plan to attack the Rialto Towers in Melbourne.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard confirmed in December 2001 that Afroz had named the Rialto Towers as a possible target, but cautioned that his claims could have been exaggerated or fabricated.
International Investigation
Mumbai Police sent teams to Australia, Britain and the US to investigate Afroz’s claims. M N Singh also travelled to London and New York, where he met law enforcement officials and examined places Afroz had reportedly visited, a report by NDTV added.
Initially, Afroz was booked under the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO). POTO was subsequently replaced by the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) in 2002; it is therefore inaccurate to say that POTA replaced the earlier TADA law. TADA had already lapsed in 1995.
In March 2002, the prosecution sought permission to drop the POTO provisions against Afroz, saying there was insufficient evidence to proceed under the ordinance. A special court subsequently allowed the case to proceed under other provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
Afroz was released on bail in April 2002 after the police failed to file a chargesheet within the stipulated period. He later retracted his confession, saying it had been made under police pressure.
The alleged plots in Britain and Australia were never established through corroborating evidence. Australia’s intelligence assessment specifically found the allegations relating to Australia could not be corroborated.
Afroz later maintained that the allegations against him were fabricated and that he had been falsely implicated by the police.
According to media reports, four months after suspected Al Qaeda terrorist Mohammed Afroze made a confession before a magistrate about his participation in a conspiracy to blow up targets abroad, he on April 30 retracted his statement saying it was made under duress and threats from police. Afroze, charged with sedition, had confessed on December 18, 2001 before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Mumbai about his alleged links with the Al Qaeda, undergoing pilot's training in a foreign country and the secret plans of this organisation to blow up prime targets in the U.K, the US and India. He also alleged that the police had threatened to kill his brother unless he made a confession on his alleged links with the Al Qaeda
