Tag: David Headley (page 2)

A grand jury returned a superseding indictment against David Coleman Headley, aka Daaod Gilani and Tahawwur Rana regarding the Mumbai attacks and alleged planned attack on a Danish newspaper.

Also indicted: Retired Pakistani military officer Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed (Pasha)and alleged Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI) leader Ilyas Kashmiri.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago released this detailed press release (pdf)on the Indictment. [More...]

A federal magistrate judge in Chicago yesterday denied bail for Tahawwur Hussain Rana, co-defendant of David Headley, aka Daood Gilani. Rana is charged with providing material support to terrorists via a planned attack on a Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

The Court found Rana had immigration expertise and a net worth of $1.6 million and was a flight risk. The Government alleged in a brief (available on PACER) that recorded conversations showed Rana knew of the Mumbai attacks before they happened and expressed his approval of them. Rana is not alleged to have participated in the Mumbai attacks. His lawyer argued the recorded conversations were in large part unintelligible and Rana is not a flight risk. [More...]

New charges have been filed (pdf)in Chicago against accused terrorist and former DEA cooperator David Headley, aka Daood Gilani. The U.S. Attorney's office confirms he is cooperating with both the investigation into the Danish newspaper plot and that of the 2008 Mumbai bombings. The text of the new complaint is here (pdf).

In March 2008, Headley and his co-conspirators discussed potential landing sites for a team of attackers who would arrive by sea in Mumbai, and he was instructed to take boat trips in and around the Mumbai harbor and take surveillance video, which he did during his visit to India starting in April 2008, the charges allege.

At various times, Headley allegedly conducted surveillance of other locations in Mumbai and elsewhere in India of facilities and locations that were not attacked in November 2008, including the National Defense College in Delhi, India.

The Government today also unsealed charges (available here, pdf)filed in October against retired Pakistani army major Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed (Abdur Rehman). The two-count complaint charges him with conspiracy to murder and maim persons in a foreign country, and providing material support to that foreign terrorism conspiracy, in connection with the Danish plot. [More...]

It turns out David Headley, aka Daood Gilani, the former DEA cooperator now indicted for terrorism in Chicago and suspected of playing some role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is the half-brother of the Public Relations Officer to Pakistan's Prime Minister. In a statement, Danyel Gilani says:

Seeking to de-emphasize the connection, the PRO said, “Being much younger to Daood, I have heard that he studied at the Hasan Abdal Cadet College for sometime and in the mid-1970s shifted to America to live with his mother. Since then, the family here only had occasional links with him. In fact, because of his involvement with issues related to drugs my father wanted the rest of the family to stay away from his influence.”

Speculation keeps mounting that the feds here used Headley to infiltrate Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and that at some point he either went rogue and joined LeT, or became a double agent. [More...]

I've been writing about the curious case of David Headley, former heroin smuggler who got a sweetheart deal from the DEA and DOJ in exchange for cooperation that included travel to Pakistan.

Today, the Times of India picks up on the DEA connection, and asks, Is Headley an American agent who turned rogue?

To make the tale even more dramatic, Headley may just have provided American intelligence agencies information that prevented a Lashkar attack on Mumbai in September. The theory -- and it's still a theory -- is that Headley was used to infiltrate the Lashkar, but gradually went astray under the influence of the very terrorists he was supposed to be spying upon.

Torn between conflicting loyalties, he may have continued to give information to his American handlers, and a tip-off by him may even have helped avert a Laskar attack orginally planned for September. But he seems to have commited fully to Lashkar shortly after that, which could be one reason why American agencies were caught napping by 26/11.

Also, the Telegraph reports it was British Intelligence that tipped the FBI to both Headley and Najibullah Zazi.

The Chicago Tribune reports that terror suspect David Headley, aka Daood Gilani, is cooperating with authorities and providing information about the Mumbai terror attacks of November, 2008.

David Coleman Headley, who has been cooperating with authorities, is being investigated as a scout for the Mumbai attack, which targeted multiple sites, including two hotels, a train station, a cafe and a Jewish community center. A source familiar with the probe said Headley's co-defendant in the newspaper case, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, is suspected to have paid for Headley's India missions.

As I wrote here, it wouldn't be the first time Headley has cooperated. Under his original name, Daood Gilani, he worked his way out of a 1997 heroin case by providing information to the DEA. He ended up with a 15 month sentence (his co-defendant James Lewis got 100 months.) After Headley/Gilani was released from prison, and while he was on supervised release, the court granted him permission to travel to Pakistan. The Government then joined his request to terminate his supervised release three years early. [More...]

The Chicago terror charges against David Headley, formerly Daood Gilani, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana are interesting for a number of reasons. They are particularly big news in India, where FISA surveillance information has authorities connecting them to the Nov. 2008 Mumbai attacks and to high level people in Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (Lashker e Taiba) and Harkat-ul Jihad Islamid.

What's getting some, but not enough news, is Headley's 1997 bust in New York for conspiracy to import heroin into the U.S. (The New York Times briefly refers to it here.)He was charged under his original name, Daood Saleem Gilani, along with a codefendant James Leslie Lewis. (Lewis was sentenced to 120 months, later reduced to 100 months.)

After Headley's arrest, he was ordered detained pending trial. But, he began cooperating with the DEA. The U.S. Attorney's office submitted some sealed documents (obviously cooperation letters) and got him out on bond. He was sentenced to only 15 months and when he got out from Ft. Dix, the DEA sent him to Pakistan to make some cases. [More...]