Mumbai, Nov 28 (PTI) - Indian Navy’s elite Marine Commandos (MARCOS) have recovered a Mauritian national’s identity card from the rug sack of a terrorist, who escaped from the Taj hotel room, after an encounter with the security forces.

“We have recovered a rug sack of a terrorist, who escaped, after an encounter with the MARCOS and we found an identity card of a Mauritian national,” Marine Commandos team leader, who was part of the operation, told reporters here today.

The rug sack also contained Chinese made grenades, seven ammunition magazines, 400 spare rounds of ammunition, seven credit cards of different banks, dry rations and USD 1,200 and Rs 6,840 from inside the rug sack.
[source: livermint.com]

Mauritian identity card, credit and debit cards of banks and explosives were seized from the terrorists who attacked the Taj Mahal hotel, a senior marine commando said.

"We found a purse in a bag we found in which there was a Mauritian government identity card, seven bank credit and debit cards of banks like HSBC, HDFC and ICICI and cash of Rs 6,840. We have given all the details to the police," the commander of the marine commandos team said.
[source: indiainfo.com]

 

Lead on terrorists
- Mauritian identity cards found from slain terrorist.
- 7 credit cards from Indian and foreign banks
- 1,200 US Dollars, Rs 6,840 Indian Rupees retrieved
- 4 Chinese made grenades found
- Many rounds of AK-47 ammunitions found
[source: itgo.in]

BBC Live Updates
0740 The Indian marine commando says a Mauritius ID card, $1,200 and 6,000 Indian rupees were recovered from one of the gunmen's bags at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. In addition, the gunmen had several magazines of spare ammunition, explosives, food, and credit cards from several banks, he says.
[source: BBC]

No news of SBM CEO – Chaitlall Ajay Gunness
There is currently no information concerning the whereabouts of Mr. Chaitlall Gunness, CEO of SBM, who was trapped in Taj Hotel since Wednesday. His wife has been asked to identify bodies recovered from Taj Hotel – so there is still a possibility of him being alive.

It has been officially confirmed that Mr. Chaitlall Guness is dead. His body was retrieved from suite 551 of the Taj Hotel by the NSG. This is a terribly sad event for Mauritius - our second victim of terrorism (the first one being from the London Bombings). My heartfelt wishes to the family & may you rest in peace.:(
More here.

 

I’ll update this post as more news comes trickling in…

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Update:

Video of MARCOS commandos press conference – Mauritian ID card mentioned along with SBM & HSBC credit cards.

Update 2:

Mumbai weapons stashed before attack
ISLAMIC militants who attacked India's economic capital Mumbai had pre-stocked weapons and explosives inside one of the hotels they targeted, according to Indian intelligence sources.

The Intelligence Bureau, India's domestic spy agency, said it had detained a Muslim militant, Abu Islami, found to have checked into the five-star Oberoi/Trident hotel four days before the rest of the attackers landed in Mumbai by boat.
"He used the room to store explosives" including 40 hand grenades "and weapons for a prolonged operation", a top Intelligence Bureau official told AFP on condition he not be named.
"We are asking him who supplied the weapons, the explosives, the Chinese-made grenades. He came in much before the main body of the terrorists landed by boat" on Wednesday evening, he said.
At least 150 people have died so far and more than 350 others have been injured in the attacks in Mumbai.
The Intelligence Bureau also said credit cards and one identity card from the Indian Ocean nation of Mauritius were recovered from the militant's room.
[source: TheAustralian.news.com]

From the above report, we can presume that the Mauritian ID card belonged to Abu Islami – who definitely doesn’t appear to be Mauritian. It’s more likely that he used this fake ID card to pass off as a tourist…

Update 3:

Preparations began four months back

The mission being carried out by the security forces to flush terrorists out of the Taj finally ended on Saturday morning. After more than 60 hours of intense encounter, the guns fell silent and the bloodshed stopped.
The encounter, that lasted the longest, ended with the killing of four terrorists holed up inside. But Mumbai has paid a heavy price for it.

Almost 200 people are dead and these numbers do not include the casualties at the Taj yet. At least 18 foreigners are among the dead.
The security forces have managed to kill nine terrorists. One of them, Ajmal Amir Qasab, was caught alive and is currently being interrogated by Mumbai Police.
During his preliminary interrogation, Qasad believed to have reportedly told police, "I have done right and I have no regrets." He has also admitted to being a member of the Lashkar.

Qasab also told the police that he and his associate Ismail Khan were the ones who shot Anti-Terror Squad chief Hemant Karkare, encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar and Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte.
According to the police, Qasab had booked rooms in the Taj where the explosives were kept.
Terrorists showed Mauritian ID Cards and posed as students to the hotel. Indian ID cards were recovered from two terrorists at the Oberoi Trident.

A recce of all the locations were done around four months ago by a different group of terrorists.
They studied the satellite pictures of the hotels, various locations and made detailed maps.

Qasab, 21, according to the sources, is from Faridkot in Pakistan, and was involved in the indiscriminate firings carried out at least three locations - Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Cama and Albless Hospital and Metro Cinema areas - all located within a radius of one km.
An unspecified quantity of arms and ammunition has been recovered from him.
He has been remanded to police custody till December 8.
[source: NDTV]

Terrorists stayed in room 630, had many visitors

Immediate tragedy and crisis has only just given way to the investigation process, and already it is clear that the terrorists who held Mumbai hostage for almost three days had planned far greater mayhem.
As the body count in the Mumbai terror attacks went up to almost 200, exclusive details were fast emerging by Saturday evening that the terrorists had plans to blow up the landmark Taj hotel at the Gateway of India, in an explosion similar to the one at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad recently.

Much of the information has come from the lone terrorist arrested and now in police custody -- A A Qasab, who reportedly belongs to Faridkot in Pakistan.
Mumbai Police said Qasab had made clear that he believed he had done right and had no regrets. He reportedly said the plan was to blow up the entire heritage hotel, which is a landmark that represents the city.
"We wanted to blow up the Taj," he is said to have told the police.

Police said the operation had been planned for months, and a detailed recce was done four months ago by another group. They took satellite pictures of the hotels and various locations and prepared detailed maps.
Qasab. and an associate, had booked rooms in the Taj where they kept the ammunition. They stayed in room 630, had booked the room for four days and had many visitors. Police are now trying to locate these visitors.

The room was booked using fake identity cards from Mauritius and the terrorists posed as students, the police said.
In other information that Qasab has reportedly given is that he had plans to enter the Times of India building, but had to change his plans as he was fired on by the police.

He has also said that he and his associate Ismail Khan were the ones who shot Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, and top cops Vijay Salaskar and Ashok Kamthe. Hemant Karkare's funeral was held on Saturday.
The first to be shot was Vijay Salaskar; Ashok Kamthe was next, and finally Hemant Karkare. Qasab was in touch on phone with his team's chief, who gave him instructions.

Meanwhile, the Internet Protocol address of the Deccan Mujahideen, the group that sent an e-mail claiming responsibility, has been traced to outside India.
And in an ominous lead that echoes the 1993 terror attacks in Mumbai, the police have said that the involvement of the underworld led by Dawood Ibrahim is being investigated and cannot be ruled out.
[source: NDTV]

Finally some good news! It was quite obvious that the Mauritian ID card found on the terrorists were most probably fake, but nevertheless the PR damage has already been done. As we all know, Mauritian IDs are too easy to fake - ANYONE can print a piece of paper & stick a photo on it. I hope the government will now be speeding up their new ID project.