FBI told of husband's terror links years before attack

Two wives of a businessman convicted over the Mumbai terrorist attacks in India spoke to the FBI about three years before, it has emerged.

By The Newsroom

Published 18th Oct 2010, 11:59 BST

Updated 18th Oct 2010, 11:59 BST

In 2005 one wife informed the FBI that David Headley had told her he supported Pakistan in its dispute with India over Kashmir. The second wife, a Moroccan, provided information in Islamabad in 2007 that Headley was involved in a terrorist group plotting against targets in India.

The FBI interviews in New York City occurred three years before the 2008 attacks that killed 166 people.

Headley pleaded guilty in the US District Court in Chicago last March to laying the groundwork for the massacre in Mumbai and performing similar surveillance in anticipation of an attack on a Danish newspaper which carried cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

Officials said the women did not say that their husband was an active militant or wanted to engage in violent acts. The FBI declined to comment.