Terror planner says Pakistan paid him

David Headley, a Pakistani with U.S. citizenship, served as the lead scout for the Nov. 26 terrorist attacks against Mumbai, India.  Headley was convicted for his crimes in the U.S. in 2013.  As evidence at his trial indicated, Headley was paid by the ISI, Pakistan’s spy agency, to conduct the Mumbai reconnaissance.  Headley has repeated this version of events again during remote video testimony for his trial in India.  Headley also worked for the Islamic terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.  What does that tell you about the shared interests of the ISI and the LeT?

From Foreign Policy‘s South Asia Daily brief:

David Headley: ISI paid me for reconnaissance for 26/11 targets

A U.S. citizen convicted for his role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks told an Indian court on Thursday that the Pakistani intelligence service ISI paid him directly for reconnaissance of target for the 26/11 attacks (CNN-IBN). In his testimony given through video link from the United States, Headley claimed that he was given one hundred thousand Pakistani rupees to scout National Defence College, Chabad House, and other places in Mumbai. Last month, Headley also told the court that he had visited India seven times prior to the attack, on behalf of the banned Pakistani militant organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), to gather information scouting potential target locations in Mumbai ahead of the attacks. Headley, 52, was captured in 2013 in the United States and plead guilty to charges of working with LeT and his involvement in the attacks, to avoid the death penalty and extradition to India. The November 2008 attacks in Mumbai were a coordinated set of strikes on the railway station, luxury hotels and a Jewish cultural center, and claimed 166 lives along with nine attackers.

Paks recall diplomat over alleged terror funding

Normally Pakistan would have given an award to such a person. Maybe the recall of the diplomat in question is a sign of progress. But likelier than not, her patrons in Islamabad are probably irate that she got herself caught. She allegedly gave $385 to an operative of the jihadist group JMB. From BD News 24 (h/t Ranel):

Pakistan withdraws ‘terror-link’ tainted diplomat from Bangladesh

Senior Correspondent,  bdnews24.com

Published: 2015-12-23

Pakistan has recalled its Second Secretary (Political) at the High Commission in Dhaka after allegations of her ties to terrorism in Bangladesh surfaced.

Md Shahidul Islam, an immigration officer at Shahjalal International Airport, told bdnews24.com that Fareena Arshad left Dhaka in a Pakistan International Airlines flight at 1:35pm on Wednesday.

Earlier in January this year, Mazhar Khan, another Pakistani official working in the Dhaka mission, had been expelled after Bangladesh intelligence accused him of funding Islamist radicals and peddling fake currency.

Detective Branch of police recently claimed to have ‘found evidence of Fareena Arshad’s terror links’ based on information revealed during the interrogation of several arrested members of Jama’atul Majahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

One JMB member, Idris Sheikh, also mentioned the links in a confessional statement at a Dhaka court, they said.

Sheikh, who was once involved in politics in Pakistan, in the statement said he was in touch with the female diplomat and had received Tk 30,000 from her…

Pakistan keeps protecting rich Islamic terrorists

Terror mogul Dawood Ibrahim has left Karachi in southern Pakistan for Murree in northern Pakistan.  Indian news sources say that this move was ordered by Pakistan’s spy agency, the ISI, which has long sheltered Dawood.  Maybe this means India was getting close to figuring out exactly where Dawood was.

Pakistan granted a haven to Osama Bin Laden.  They’re doing the same thing with Dawood Ibrahim.  Whatever happened to “You’re either with us or against us in the fight against terror”?  Is granting a safe harbor to successive multi-millionaire Islamic terrorists a sign of being “with us”?

From India.com (hat tip to El Grillo):

Dawood Ibrahim shifted from Karachi by Pakistan?

New Delhi/ Islamabad, Aug 24: Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim has been shifted from his Karachi residence to other safe place by Pakistan authorities and ISI, according to reports. India’s most wanted criminal, Dawood Ibrahim along with his wife and daughter was shifted from Karachi to country’s North region Muri.

The latest development came after Indian government prepared a dossier showing Dawood Ibrahim’s several residences in Pakistan. Dawood had been in Muri earlier where the ISI has its safe houses. As per reports, the mastermind of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts and Dawood’s brother, Anees Ibrahim with his family have reportedly been shifted from his current location.

In evidence to show that Dawood Ibrahim is holed up in Pakistan, a dossier prepared by India listed nine residences of the underworld don in that country and stated that he is known to frequently change his locations and addresses there. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, meanwhile, said that Dawood is permanently living in Pakistan though he may be changing locations in that country…

Terror tycoon sheltered by our “partner”

Pakistan, an alleged “partner” of the U.S., is sheltering yet another international terrorist.  This time it’s not Osama Bin Laden or Mullah Omar, but underworld kingpin and terrorist financier Dawood Ibrahim.

France often serves as a waiting area for revolutionaries before they go back to their home countries.  Saudi Arabia is often a flophouse for deposed Arab dictators.  Now we know who Pakistan likes hosting the most–fundamentalist Islamic madmen who murder civilians at will.

From the Sunday Guardian (h/t El Grillo):

Dawood hiding in plain sight with new identity: US experts

MADHAV NALAPAT New York | 25th Jul 2015

Experts in counter-terrorism activities say that there is “credible information that India’s most wanted person”, Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, aka Sheikh Dawood Hassan, who, ironically, was the son of a Mumbai police constable of known integrity, “was in March 2003 given a new identity and accompanying papers by the ISI, in order to reduce the chances of detection and to facilitate his travel to multiple locations across the globe, including South Africa, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Portugal and Dubai”. They say that this identity change was carried out once it was confirmed that the United States (responding to repeated requests by the A.B. Vajpayee government at the level of Home Minister L.K. Advani and National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra) would declare Dawood a Specially Designated International Terrorist. This was done in October 2003, or six months after Dawood’s identity makeover. According to these sources, “such a step had no effect on Dawood’s international operations, both business and terror-related”, in view of the fact that he was thereby enabled to travel safely to multiple locations through use of the documents prepared for him by the ISI. They claim that Dawood was made aware in advance — presumably by the Pakistan authorities — that he would be labelled an international terrorist by the US. Responding to this, towards the close of 2002 itself, the canny fugitive had transferred properties which were in his name to nominees and benamis, so that nothing of any value was seized anywhere in the world, including in India, where he has substantial assets, especially in Mumbai and Hyderabad.

Terrorism, hawala and narcotics go hand in hand in Dawood’s business empire, which at its peak had an estimated annual turnover of $4 billion in value before beginning a decline around 2007, because of increased US tracking of his assets and the financial networks operating on his behalf in Hong Kong and Singapore. The heightened interest was because of the expansion of operations of the LeT to Europe. “During 2006-2011, (Dawood) sold much of his international businesses and relocated some assets to India and most to Pakistan”, these US-based sources claimed, adding that there was little effective countering of Dawood’s operations in India during the period in office of both Prime Ministers Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh. But they added that “the heat has increased after (Prime Minister) Modi took over in 2014”. During Narendra Modi’s visit to the US in September 2014, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval stayed an extra two days in Washington “mainly to work out ways of capturing or otherwise incapacitating Dawood”. They add that Doval told his US interlocutors that he had been on the fugitive’s trail for two decades, and that he wanted to ensure success in the hunt during his tenure in office as the NSA.

However, the problem facing the sleuths in India is that the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts has been travelling under a new legal identity since 2003, and has adopted a very low profile, shunning the high-profile events he was earlier seen in, “although he retains his contacts with Bollywood and is working to ensure through his contacts that favourites of his be given meaty roles”. They say that sports and movies are his favourite hobbies, as well as being money-spinners, mainly through match-fixing in the case of the first and influence over distribution networks in the subcontinent in the case of the second.

These sources claim that “the 26/11 attack could not have succeeded the way it did but for longstanding contacts within the Mumbai police and state political network of Dawood and his close associates”. They claim that “high-level politicians, afraid of being implicated through Dawood ensured that the domestic angle was never seriously probed by the police following the blasts”, with the bulk of attention being focused on captured operative Ajmal Kasab and his contacts in Pakistan…

China fails to fool FATF body on Pakistan’s terror financing

India has blocked a Chinese maneuver within the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering to white-list Pakistan.

That would be the same Pakistan that created the Taliban, harbored Osama bin Laden, and is probably protecting terrorist fat cat Dawood Ibrahim.  Pakistan funnels millions of dollars through its ISI spy service to terrorist and militant groups in Afghanistan, Kashmir, and beyond.  Pakistan is well-known for corruption, graft, and slipshod tax administration.  China sought to shield Pakistan from any scrutiny of its abysmal counter-terror finance and anti-money laundering programs purely for geopolitical purposes.  Kudos to India for keeping the pressure on.

From TNN on June 30 (hat tip @TerrorismWatch):

India blocks China’s bid to save Pakistan on terror finance scrutiny

NEW DELHI: Pakistan’s enforcement of UN financial sanctions against terrorism will be closely monitored by Financial Action Task Force (FATF) through its associate body, the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), after India successfully blocked China’s attempt at a recent FATF meet in Brisbane to save non-FATF member Pakistan from such scrutiny.

FATF is a policy-making body whose objectives include setting standards to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism and supporting implementation of these standards. APG on money laundering, somewhat of a mini-FATF of which Pakistan is a member, is committed to the effective implementation and enforcement of standards set by FATF.

According to sources in the government, India, with the support of allies like the US, managed to derail China’s bid which was backed by Australia to shield Pakistan on terror financing. The FATF meet agreed with India’s argument that Pakistan, despite not being part of FATF, was part of APG which works in close collaboration with FATF, and its enforcement of targeted financial sanctions against terrorism should be subject to monitoring by FATF through the APG.

At the FATF meeting last week, India and the US spoke up against Pakistan’s lack of conviction in implementing anti-terror financial sanctions by freezing assets or attaching properties of 26/11 masterminds Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and 1993 Mumbai blasts accused Dawood Ibrahim etc. China, however, argued that Pakistan was doing enough and reporting on the action taken to APG.

India was not satisfied with the report submitted by Pakistan to APG as it listed only unnamed accounts, without identifying their origins and their implications for the group’s functioning. This was despite India furnishing enough details on Falah-e-Insaniyat, linked to LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawah, publicly raising funds. Similar fund-raising at Hafiz Saeed’s rallies was also highlighted.

Half of Pakistani hawala dealers are unlicensed

The U.S. State Department’s international narcotics report for 2015 says that half of remittances sent from the diaspora back home were processed by hawala dealers. Hawala is the traditional Islamic method of transferring funds. Hawala is also a preferred method of sending money among terrorist groups because of the difficulty in tracing such transfers. The remittances handled by hawala amount to $9 billion according to the report:

From January through November 2014, the Pakistani diaspora legitimately remitted approximately $18 billion back to Pakistan via the formal banking sector. Though it is illegal to change foreign currency without a license, unlicensed hawala/hundi operators are prevalent throughout Pakistan, and it is estimated that use of these operators accounts for over half of the total remittances. Unlicensed hawala/ hundi operators are also common throughout the region and are widely used to transfer and launder illicit money. Some support the financing of terrorism.

The report goes on to note that unlicensed hawala is especially common in Karachi and Peshawar.

By the way, even a 50 percent registration rate of hawala businesses is higher than it is in the U.S. Our authorities are only licensing 17 percent of hawala dealers according to a study out of George Mason University.

Graham: We didn’t conclude that Pakistani intelligence ordered transfer of $100,000 to Mohammed Atta

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fl.) recently granted an interview with 9/11 blogger Jon Gold about the joint congressional inquiry about 9/11 that Graham co-chaired. Readers will recall that 28 pages of the inquiry’s report dealing with Saudi sponsorship of some of the 9/11 hijackers remain classified.

During the interview, Gold asked Graham about the persistent rumor that the former chief of the Pakistani spy agency ISI ordered a third party to wire money to lead hijacker Mohamed Atta. Graham answered that the inquiry did not find that this had occurred, but could neither rule out that it did occur.

Listen to an excerpt from their conversation here (hat tip to 28pages.org), or read it below.

Jon Gold: From what I’ve heard, um, there are more than one country, or there is more than one country listed, within the 28 redacted pages. Can you at least confirm that much, or…?

Bob Graham: No.

Jon Gold: Ok, um, my next question, and I have heard you say that the claims regarding then head of the Pakistani ISI Lt. Gen. Mahmood Ahmed ordering Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh to wire transfer $100,000 to Mohammed Atta are unsubstantiated. Many people—

Bob Graham: We didn’t—I can say that our inquiry did not, uh, reach that conclusion.

Jon Gold: Ok, so you’re saying that your inquiry looked into those allegations or no?

Bob Graham: They were part of our general inquiry. I’m not saying that we conclusively said that it didn’t happen, but we did say we could not, based on the information that we were able to develop, state that Ahmed had been involved in some relationship with the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

To our knowledge, the report published by the joint congressional inquiry did not refer to Lt. Gen. Ahmed at all. In the Gold interview, Graham may have been referring to findings during the inquiry that were not included in the final report.

Based on the uncertainty about whether nominal “partners” of the U.S. (Saudi Arabia and Pakistan) helped support the 9/11 hijackers, wouldn’t it make sense for a major news organization to renew their investigations into the subject?

Money Jihad’s understanding of the flow of dollars to the 9/11 hijackers based on official, public sources is documented in this post and diagram here.

Suggested reading: You can’t afford to play dumb

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• If a country is always in the news along with phrases like “dragged through the street” or “human shield” you might want to do some screening before taking on business partners there… more>>

Pakistan arrests 75 clerics for financial crimes

Pakistan claims to have frozen bank accounts that were used to funnel the equivalent of 100 million USD to terrorists and money launderers. Pakistan has also “recovered” $1 million from “clerics” and banned organizations. One hundred and fifty people, half of whom are Muslim clerics, have been arrested for hawala, money laundering, or other suspicious transactions during an unspecified timeframe.  From The Express Tribune:

National Action Plan: Over Rs 10 billion in foreign terror and AML funds frozen

By Zahid Gishkori

Published: March 25, 2015

ISLAMABAD: Authorities in Pakistan have frozen a number of accounts used to funnel Rs 10.2 billion in cash to terror and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) suspects, officials overseeing the National Action Plan (NAP) told The Express Tribune.

Law enforcement agencies also recovered Rs 101.7 million either from clerics or workers of banned organisations, they said.

These actions — taken with the assistance of the State Bank of Pakistan — are part of the overall efforts to throttle the flow of foreign funding to terrorists and proscribed organisations in the country.

Nine days after militants mounted a bloody attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, the government formulated the action plan in a bid to purge the country of all kinds of terrorism.

“To choke terror funding [in all shapes] is our top priority, this is our strategy to weaken foreign-funded militants,” said Hamid Ali Khan, national coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta). Under UN Security Council resolutions 1,267 and 1,373, he explained, Pakistan is bound to stop terror funding.

Another senior official of the interior ministry said both the UN resolutions bound member states not only to take measures against terrorists but also establish a global sanctions regime against designated individuals and entities associated with notorious global terror networks.

The official, who did not want to be named, revealed that civilian and intelligence agencies have arrested 150 people, half of them clerics, in violation of laws dealing with hawala, hundi, suspicious transactions and anti-money laundering by registering cases against 130 individuals who were getting money from foreign countries including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Australia, the US, the UK, Hong Kong, Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait…

Official funded terrorists from Pakistan’s embassy

A Pakistani visa official with a list of Hizb ut-Tahrir militants in his possession was detained by Bangladeshi authorities last month. The official, Mohammad Mazahar Khan, tried to destroy the list before his arrest, according to the Daily Sun. Mazahar was detained along with an accomplice, Mojibur Rahman. Mojibur subsequently confessed that he has circulated counterfeit Bangladeshi rupees on behalf of Mazahar and Mazahar’s predecessor before him. Bangladeshi authorities suspect that Pakistan is funding militant groups and undermining Bangladesh’s currency through Pakistan’s high commission (embassy) in Dhaka.

This “visa” official was actually a Pakistani intelligence agent (h/t Munazir) working at the embassy who got caught.  Bangladesh News 24 notes that, “It is not unusual for Pakistani nationals — and officials under diplomatic cover — to be engaged in criminal activities particularly in militants in Bangladesh.”

And we all just have to put up with these ongoing abuses by Pakistan in the interests of “diplomacy”?

From the Daily Sun on Feb. 2 (h/t CyberGroupBD):

An official of Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka is alleged to have been associated with financing the militants, money laundering and supplying counterfeit currencies. The official named Mohammad Mazahar Khan was detained red-handed by police last month but later released from Banani thana at the intervention of the High Commission. The connection of this assistant visa officer of Pakistan High Commission with the militants and his other misdeeds alongside have been revealed in intelligence investigation. Consequently an intelligence report has recommended for expulsion of visa officer Mazahar from Bangladesh at the earliest. Side by side, the report has suggested for enhancing surveillance on Pakistani nationals in Dhaka.

Intelligence officials have informed, the matters are being reviewed with caution because of diplomatic relations. It is difficult to verify any suspicion about High Commission officials. Even questioning can not be done due to the intervention of diplomats of the county concerned. The report has been submitted to the government last month mentioning about the alarming situation. According to police and intelligence sources two people named Mohammad Mazhar Khan and Mojibur Rahman were detained in a drive in the Moytri Market area of Banani on January 12 evening. Just at the time of being detained Mazhar tore down some papers. Joining the pieces of paper together later police found that the papers contained some Bangladeshi passport numbers and names. Even before those papers could be scrutinized Pakisani High Commission first secretary Samina Mahtab came to Banani thana and took away Mazahar Khan under her custody. Subsequently the intelligence people came to know through investigation that three of the people who’s passport numbers were written in the paper are directly linked with Hizbut Tahrir. Mujibur Rahman detained with Mazahar disclosed during interrogation that he was acquainted with Mazahar Khan through his predecessor. During the one decade Mujibor travel 20 times to Pakistan, 11 times to India and 22 times to Thailand. On the latest occasion Mazahar had given Mujibor 1.80 lakh Indian fake rupees to circulate those at different places. Mujibor made a confession before the court that Mazahar has used Zahid, Imran and some others in this business of fake rupees. Intelligence officials feel that this Pakistan High Commission official has a direct role in destroying the Bangladesh money market. The officials stated that Mazahar has contact with retired army and police officials, university teachers, businessmen and various others people. Sources said customs intelligence department detained Pakistan citizen Mohammad Imran from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on 15 January. 80 thousand Indian rupees were also found from him. Information revealed that Imran entered into Bangladesh through fake passport and visa.

Information is available that some officials of the Pakistan High Commission are involved in money laundering and making counterfeit notes. They are reportedly patronizing Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Ansarullah Bangla Team, Jamaat and its student organisation Shibir. The members of various militant outfits are getting foreign trips at the behest of the above officials’ help. Roles of the officials are dubious. Sources at the intelligence agencies claimed to have found evidence of involvement of some officials in trading counterfeit Indian currency. The name of Mazhar Khan can be mentioned in this regard. This diplomat has been financing the militants and arranging training for them. He is implementing various agendas of Pakistani intelligence ISI here. He has reportedly created a network in the host country. Abusing the diplomatic identity, he has resorted to masterminding sabotage and criminal activities. The intelligence report recommended for expulsion of Mazhar from this country. It also underscored the need for keeping a close eye on the people coming from Pakistan.

Asked about the matter, several intelligence sources said the officials of Pakistan High Commission were found to be involved in the rise of JMB and other militant network during the BNP-Jamaat regime. Such investigation could not be proceeded perhaps for the interest of bilateral relations between two countries…

U.S. takes aim at Dawood Ibrahim’s brother

New sanctions have been slapped against underworld crime boss and terrorist mastermind Dawood Ibrahim’s network by U.S. Treasury Department. One of the targets of the sanctions is Dawood’s brother Anees, who has at various times been erroneously reported as dead. Dawood was the mastermind and financier of the 1993 Mumbai bombings that killed 257 people. The expansion of sanctions against his gang speaks to an improving diplomatic relationship between the U.S. and India, and to a souring relationship with Pakistan where Dawood is currently being sheltered.

Here are the details from Treasury:

Treasury Sanctions Two Indian Nationals and a Company Based in Pakistan for Ties to the South Asian Criminal Network ‘D Company’

1/16/2015

Action Targets Long-Time Members of D Company and a Paper Mill Controlled by One of the Designated Individuals

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced the designation of two Indian nationals and one entity in Pakistan as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act) due to their ties to D Company, a South Asian criminal organization led by Dawood Ibrahim.  As a result of today’s action, all assets of those designated that are based in the United States or are in the control of U.S. persons are frozen, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

D Company is a transnational crime syndicate that principally operates in India, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates.  D Company is involved in a variety of criminal activities, including narcotics trafficking, extortion, smuggling, and contract killings.  Dawood Ibrahim and other leaders of D Company are the subjects of INTERPOL Red Notices for their suspected involvement in the 1993 terrorist bombings in Mumbai, India in which 257 people were killed.  In October 2003, the Treasury Department named Dawood Ibrahim as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and in June 2006, the United States named both Dawood Ibrahim and D Company as Significant Foreign Narcotics Traffickers pursuant to the Kingpin Act.  Additionally, in May 2012, Treasury designated two senior D Company lieutenants, Chhota Shakeel and Ibrahim “Tiger” Memon, under the Kingpin Act.

“Today, the United States is targeting D Company, a violent organization notorious for its drug trafficking activities and terrorism,” said Adam J. Szubin, Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control.  “Combatting transnational organized crime is a top U.S. priority, and we will continue to expose the activities of D Company and the underpinnings of criminal financial networks worldwide.”

Today’s action targets two long-time members of D Company, Shaikh Anis Ibrahim Kaskar (Anis Ibrahim), the brother of Dawood Ibrahim, and Aziz Moosa Bilakhia (Bilakhia), both Indian nationals.  Anis Ibrahim is known to be involved in narcotics trafficking, extortion, contract killings, and money laundering on behalf of D Company.  Anis Ibrahim is also accused of involvement in the 1993 Mumbai blasts.  Today’s action also targets Mehran Paper Mill, a Kotri City, Pakistan-based paper company owned or controlled by Anis Ibrahim.

Bilakhia works directly for Anis and Dawood Ibrahim and manages extortion, enforcement, and debt collection activities for D Company.  Bilakhia has been involved with D Company since at least the 1993 Mumbai bombings, for which he is wanted by Indian authorities…