Fresh reports on Mumbai attack send a clear indication that intelligence agencies had precise information at least 10 months ago that the Lashkar-e-Taiba was planning an attack on one of the prominent five-star hotels of Mumbai.

The reports state that on September 18, Research and Analysis Wing computers intercepted a satellite phone conversation between a known Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) asset and an unknown person. The asset said that an operation would be carried out targeting a hotel at the Gateway of India in Mumbai and that the sea route would be used.

The operatives, the reports claimed, had stayed at a guesthouse in Mumbai in somewhere around the end of 2007 and "Recced each floor" of the hotels like Taj Mahal and the Oberoi/Trident.

According to another media report, the Intelligence Bureau told India's National Security Council in September that the Taj hotel could be a target and another advisory on November 12 said that an attack would come from the sea. Citing sources in RAW, the reports said that telephone intercepts in which the leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba could be heard saying the "cargo is on its way" had been passed on to the navy and coast guard on November 18.