NIA makes appeal to question Headley’s Moroccan wife

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has sent a fresh request to Moroccan authorities for recording the statement of Faiza Outalha mainly pertaining to her knowledge about her estranged husband David Headley’s association with Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, a move which is apparently aimed at unravelling the role of state actors in Pakistan in 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

The development came after the Moroccan authorities, while executing a Letters Rogatory (LR) sent by the NIA in 2012 after many months, sent a statement of Outalha recorded by the law enforcing agencies of that country.

It, however, did not address many concerns of the NIA, which has registered a case in 2009 to probe the activities of Headley in India, official sources said.

According to the sources, the NIA sent a fresh request requesting the Moroccan authorities to allow a team of the NIA to question Outalha in person so that the role of two Pakistani army majors and Lashker terrorists Hafeez Saeed and Zakiur-Rehman Lakhvi is further ascertained.

The fresh request has been with a French Translation as the Government of Morocco had returned previous requests asking for a translation of the documents as per the rule of the requested country, they said.

Outalha had visited India twice and was used by Headley, a US national of Pakistani origin, while carrying out a reconnaissance mission at Hotel Taj Mahal in Mumbai where she was ostensibly on a visit.

The agency hopes that the statement of the Moroccan woman will help in completing the jigsaw about role of ISI officials.