New Delhi: The arrested Lashkar-e-Toiba “bomb-mastermind” Abdul Karim Tunda has told police that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar is in Pakistan under the cover of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Tunda, who was arrested on the Indo-Nepal border on Friday, said he was running several madrasas across Pakistan where he preached jihad and trained kids in terrorism.
“He was a motivational speaker and a very good orator. He has a very good command over oratory due to which he was in great demand (for the last 28 years) across various madrasas in Pakistan,” said a senior police officer.

Tunda was directly in touch with Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and through them, he used to get funds from the ISI and various jihadi-minded individuals.

Tunda, who is in police custody for three days, told police that he owned two madrasas – named Mahamood Tali Islami Darul Fannon – one in Karachi and the other in Pakistan-
occupied Kashmir.

Tunda has been handling Dawood’s network of fake Indian currency. During the interrogation, he also told police that Dawood stays in Karachi under the ISI cover and from there, he handles illegal business and funds terrorism.

Tunda widened his terror network through his preaching at madrasas. The network comprises ultras in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. When asked whether he was in contact with madrasas in India, Kunda told interrogators that he was in “touch with a few”.

Police said they are verifying the assertions and statements made by Tunda.  “Not only that, he (Tunda) has been luring kids to join madrasas where he preached jihad and imparted arms and bomb making skills,” said the officer. He added that Tunda has also been recruiting poor children in Pakistan and Indian youths who fled to Pakistan to join terrorist groups like Indian Mujahideen.