Panaji: Goa's beaches were in the cross hairs of suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba terror suspect Nasir Raizuddin, being tried for the 2008 Bangalore serial blasts, Wikileaks has claimed citing a recently declassified U.S. diplomatic cable.
The cable, dated February 2008, was drafted by David T. Hopper, then consul general at the U.S. consulate in Chennai.
Hopper quotes top police officials about other areas identified by Riazuddin before his arrest in Karnataka.
According to Hopper, Raziuddin told the police that along with accomplices from the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), he had identified sites across the country for a series of bomb blasts.
And "beaches in Goa frequented by foreigners" were one of those specifically identified as targets, according to the diplomatic communique.
Goa has been put on high alert since the 26/11 terror strikes in Mumbai, mainly because the state's beaches attract over 2.6 million tourists annually, of whom half a million are foreign nationals. The sizeable number of Israeli tourists to the state is another reason why security agencies believe Goa is on the terror radar.
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