Mumbai: Faizal Sheikh, arrested in connection with the July 11 Mumbai serial blasts, is suspected to be the fund-raiser for the terrorist outfit in Mumbai, Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) sources said.
Faizal allegedly used the 'hawala' mode to acquire funds from Pakistan and the Middle-East, sources said.
Faizal, a resident of Mira Road in nearby Thane district and his Bangalore-based software programmer brother Muzammil were arrested for alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) links on Thursday night.
The Central agencies will help the ATS to probe the hawala racket thorough which Faizal transfered funds for the illegal activities.
ATS sources said that some arrests are likely ot be made in this connection.
Mumbai Crime Branch officials said that Faizal and Dr Tanvir Ansari - an LeT suspect who was arrested last week - were motivators of the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir-based terrorist outfit and were active in Mumbai.
"Faizal was placed higher in terms of LeT activities in the western parts of the country," crime branch sources said.
It was Faizal who motivated Ansari to undergo training at LeT camps in Pakistan and Pak-occupied Kashmir and arranged the visit with the help of his brother Muzammil, sources said.
Subsequently, Ansari also started motivating people to join LeT training, some of them being the arrested LeT suspects including Jamir Sheikh of Mumbai and Sohail Sheikh of Pune, they said.
"Given the level of access Faizal had in the LeT hierarchy, it is possible that he was aware of LeT activities in Mumbai and around, inclucing the plan of the untraced LeT module to execute serial bomb blasts on Mumbai suburban trains," ATS sources said.
They added that some 'hawala' operators from Mumbai and Gujarat are likely to be questioned to ascertain if money was sent into India by suspected LeT operatives or sympathizers from abroad prior to the July 11 serial blasts.
ATS sources while admitting that they are no where close to nab the real perpetrators to the serial blasts, said their hopes now rest on the interrogation of Faizal, Muzammil and Tanvir Ansari, with the three most likely to have knowledge of what other LeT modules were planning in Mumbai, if not aware of the entire blasts plan.
Nearly 200 persons were killed and over 700 injured in the seven serial train blasts that took place inside first class compartments of suburban trains of Western Railway on July 11.
Eight suspected LeT members have been arrested so far in the case by a joint team of ATS and Mumbai Crime Branch.
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