The Mumbai Police's anti-terrorism unit in India has arrested a 20-year-old man on suspicion of conducting surveillance and gathering intelligence on the city's Chabad House, Jewish institutions and foreign nationals at the direction of hostile actors outside India.
The arrest comes 18 years after the terrorist attack on Mumbai's Chabad House, in which Chabad emissaries Rabbi Gavriel and Rivky Holtzberg were murdered.
According to Indian media reports, the suspect is Yash Singh, a Mumbai resident. The preliminary investigation indicated that he allegedly received instructions to survey sensitive sites in the city, particularly Chabad House, and collect detailed information about activities there.
Singh is suspected of photographing sites, collecting vehicle details and recording precise geographic information relating to Jews, their institutions, and foreign nationals living or doing business in the city. According to the reports, he passed the information to handlers outside India.
His arrest followed information received by the authorities about alleged contacts he maintained with international criminal networks through social media. Acting on that information, the anti-terrorism unit arrested him.
During questioning, the suspect reportedly said he had been asked to collect photographs, identifying details of vehicles and precise locations of Jewish targets and foreign nationals.
The investigation centers on Mumbai's Chabad House, which serves as a religious and cultural center for the city's Jewish community and visitors. The site was one of the main targets in the November 2008 terrorist attacks.
According to the reports, the methods attributed to the suspect resemble the intelligence-gathering activities that preceded those attacks.
In the months before the Mumbai attacks, David Headley, a US citizen of Pakistani origin, operated in the city on behalf of the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba. Headley surveyed, photographed and documented various sites, including Chabad House, and passed his findings to his handlers. The information he collected was later used by the terrorists who carried out the attacks.
Following Singh's arrest and reports of surveillance of Chabad House, Chabad's emergency and security center, CWA, urged emissaries worldwide to increase their vigilance, stating, "This report reminds us how vigilance saves lives."