Two Indians Arrested in Mumbai Probe - a blow to Indian officials who have blamed the massacre on Pakistani extremists

CALCUTTA, India -- Security officials say one of two Indians arrested for illegally buying mobile phone cards used by the gunmen in the Mumbai attacks is a counter-insurgency police officer who may have been on an undercover mission.
A senior police official in Indian occupied Kashmir said the man, identified as Mukhtar Ahmed, is part of a semiofficial counter-insurgency network whose members are usually drawn from among former militants.
The official says Calcutta police, who are holding Mr. Ahmed, have been told he is "our man and its now up to them how to facilitate his release."
The officer spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the information.
The two arrests are the first known arrests since the bloody siege, which killed 171 people, ended. It had not immediately been clear whether the two had prior knowledge of the attacks. If they did, the arrests could represent evidence of homegrown ties to the attacks and be a blow to Indian officials who have blamed the massacre on Pakistani extremists.
One of the men, Tauseef Rahman, allegedly bought SIM cards by providing fake documents, including identification cards of dead people, senior police official Rajeev Kumar said Saturday in the eastern city of Calcutta.
Mr. Rahman, of West Bengal state, later sold them to Mr. Ahmed, Mr. Kumar said. Both men were arrested Friday and charged with fraud and criminal conspiracy.
The SIM cards were later used by the gunmen. Police said they were still investigating how the 10 gunmen obtained the SIM cards, and declined to offer more details.
Most large Indian cities, including Calcutta, where the SIM cards were purchased, have thriving black markets for mobile phone cards and cheap phones.
Earlier, police said they were investigating another Indian national, Faheem Ansari, who was arrested in February in north India carrying hand-drawn sketches of hotels, the train terminal and other sites that were later attacked in Mumbai. Authorities say Mr. Ansari was a Lashkar operative surveying south Mumbai for a future attack.
News of the February arrest has added to a torrent of criticism about missed warnings and botched intelligence.
Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, India's top law enforcement official, apologized for "lapses" that allowed the gunmen to rampage through Mumbai.
"There have been lapses. I would be less than truthful if I said there had been no lapses," Mr. Chidambaram told reporters Friday.