Paragliding terrorists ?

Prevedi

Inteligence inputs indicate that the Lashkar- e- Tayyeba ( LeT) is desperate to launch an attack on India after a lull since the 26/ 11 Mumbai terror strikes.

A source in the Union home ministry said on Friday that there was concrete information that the LeT had recently bought over 50 paragliding kits from Europe and were training Pakistan- based terrorists to use them and attack India soon.

Identified paragliding terrorist above Bir, Himachal Pradesh

The equipment, bought through the LeT's overground cadres, is state- of- the- art, lightweight and equipped with Global Positioning System ( GPS) device. They also have a variometer to detect rates of ascent or descent on board, the source added.

Using such hi- tech equipment, a skilled paraglider can fly for at least a couple of hours and cover nearly 200 km, after launching from a peak or a cliff. India fears this could help intrusion from the border and a strike a sensitive target.

The National Security Guards ( NSG), Border Security Force( BSF) and state police units have been asked to look out for aerial crafts around vital installations, a home ministry source said. As paragliders can escape radars, those located at sensitive locations like Delhi and on the Indo- Pak borders have been retuned to intercept ' low- flying' crafts. A trained paraglider can manoeuvre the flight to land at a specific spot with the help of GPS, the source added.

Pakistan shepard in Pamir mountains on the border with Afganistan

Sources said India had received this intelligence input, as well as that of a plot to hijack Air India aircraft, from US intelligence agencies at the meeting between US defence secretary Robert Gates and Indian security officials in Delhi.

US intelligence agencies had stumbled on information that certain overground workers with LeT links had been scouting markets in Europe for modern paragliding equipment a source said.

Source: Counter Jihad