In a dramatic set of events, David Coleman Headley, who pleaded guilty for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, went for training with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) during his tenure as an informant for the United States government’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

But when asked if he reported to the DEA about his Lashkar meetings, he replied negative.

It was further clarified by his statement that, “When you say working for the DEA, I was signed, because I would sign up for periods of time. So I was working for them, but not on any case at that time. I was signed up with them at that time,”

Though he was not assigned with a task, he was still under an obligation to inform the agency if he came across anything which was in interest of the agency.

After the 9/11 U.S. attacks in 2000, Headley started attending the LeT meetings regularly and Kashmir was his prime motivation.

He further stated the kind of training he had undergone with the LeT. He said, “I did the basic — the religious course in the beginning; I did a preliminary course, a military. And then I did the advanced course. Then I did the intelligence course. Then I did the anti-terrorist course. Then, I did the leadership course. And that’s it.”

He was also called in by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for questioning after there was a complaint against him to which he said he was working for the US government and was trying to infiltrate mosques, etc.

Headley had stopped working for the DEA in September, 2001.

Report by Sumit