Posted on 03/26/2010 1:42:56 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
A Chicago taxi driver who is a Pakistani native was arrested today on charges he provided material support to Al Qaeda by attempting to send money overseas, federal authorities said.
Raja Lahrasib Khan, 56, claimed to be an acquaintance of terror leaders in Pakistan, authorities said. He is due in federal court in Chicago later this afternoon.
Khan was arrested without incident this morning in downtown Chicago while working, authorities said.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagobreakingnews.com ...
Additional Link.
March 26, 2010
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://chicago.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/cg032610.htm
Chicago Man Charged with Providing Material Support to al Qaeda by Attempting to Send Funds Overseas
CHICAGO—A Chicago man who claims to be acquainted with an alleged terrorist leader in Pakistan was arrested today on federal charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization for allegedly attempting to provide funds overseas to al Qaeda, federal law enforcement officials announced.
Although the defendant, Raja Lahrasib Khan, a Chicago taxi driver and native of Pakistan who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1988, allegedly discussed attacking a stadium in the United States this summer, there was no imminent domestic danger, officials said.
The investigation leading to Khan’s arrest is unrelated to a separate investigation that resulted in federal terrorism charges against Chicagoans Tahawwur Hussain Rana and David Coleman Headley in connection with the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai and a plot to attack targets in Denmark, the officials added.
Khan, 56, of the city’s north side, was charged with two counts of providing material support to terrorism in a criminal complaint that was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Chicago and unsealed today following his arrest, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The investigation is continuing, they said.
Khan was arrested this morning while working in downtown Chicago without incident by the Chicago FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. He was scheduled to appear at 3:30 p.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Geraldine Soat Brown in Federal Court in Chicago.
“While there was no imminent danger in the Chicago area or elsewhere, these charges, once again, affirm that law enforcement must remain constantly vigilant to guard against domestic support of foreign terrorist organizations. I am deeply grateful to the FBI agents and other members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force for their extremely hard work on this matter,” said Mr. Fitzgerald.
Mr. Grant said: “Over the past six months, FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces across the country have disrupted plots, charged and apprehended a number of individuals and secured significant intelligence, which has been of benefit here and to our allies overseas. Notable as most of these successes have been, it also illustrates the reality of the environment we face today, along with the critical responsibility domestic law enforcement agencies and intelligence services have in protecting the public from the violent designs of others. It is a complex threat that we face and we are pleased with the results today,” he added.
“Today’s arrest and charges are the result of an outstanding cooperative law enforcement and intelligence effort and underscore the domestic and international aspects of the terror threat we face,” said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.
According to a 35-page complaint affidavit, by at least 2008, Khan, who claims to have known Ilyas Kashmiri for approximately 15 years, learned that Kashmiri was working with al Qaeda, and that Kashmiri was purportedly receiving orders from al Qaeda’s leader, Osama bin Laden. According to Khan, during his meeting or meetings with Kashmiri, among other things, Khan learned that Kashmiri wanted to train operatives to conduct attacks in the United States; Kashmiri showed Khan a video depicting the detonation of an improvised explosive device; and Kashmiri told Khan that he needed money, in any amount, to be able to purchase materials from the “black market.”
The complaint identifies Kashmiri as the leader in Kashmir of Harakat ul-Jihad-I-Islami (HUJI), a Sunni extremist group located in Pakistan and Kashmir with links to al Qaeda. In a reported interview last October, Kashmiri purportedly said that he had joined forces with al Qaeda. In January 2010, Kashmiri, together with a former Pakistani military officer, Rana, and Headley, were indicted in Chicago for their alleged roles in a conspiracy to murder and maim persons in a planned attack against the facilities and employees of the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, in Denmark, as retribution for the publication of cartoons that depicted the Prophet Mohammed.
The charges against Khan allege that on Nov. 23, 2009, he sent a money transfer of approximately $950 from a currency exchange located on North LaSalle Street in Chicago to Individual A, who was in either Mirpur or Bhimber, in Pakistan. Khan later spoke with Individual A by telephone and instructed him to give “Lala” 25,000 Pakistani rupees (approximately $300) of the money he had sent. According to the affidavit, Khan told an undercover agent that “Lala,” which means “older brother” in Urdu, is a nickname Khan uses to refer to Kashmiri, who he told the agent he had met most recently in 2008 in Miran Shah in northwest Pakistan. Khan also told the agent that Khan believed that his telephones were being monitored, and if Khan or the undercover agent were ever questioned about their discussions regarding “Lala,” they should claim to have been referring to Khan’s actual older brother.
Just two weeks ago, on March 11, Khan and an associate, identified as “Individual B,” allegedly had a discussion during which they appeared to talk about attacking a stadium in the United States in “August.” Among other things, Khan described that bags containing remote controlled bombs could be placed in several different locations, and then “boom, boom, boom, boom.” Khan further said that he would ask “Lala” [Kashmiri] to teach him how to conduct such an attack, the complaint alleges. However, there are no allegations that Khan either knew Kashmiri’s current whereabouts or had yet discussed his stadium plan with him.
On March 17, after agreeing to personally deliver to Kashmiri any funds that the undercover agent wanted to provide, Khan allegedly accepted $1,000 (ten $100 bills) from the agent. The complaint states that Khan accepted these funds after having had prior conversations with the undercover agent in which: Khan confirmed that Kashmiri was working with al Qaeda; Khan assured that Kashmiri would use the undercover agent’s funds to purchase weapons and, possibly, other supplies; Khan assured that he had provided Kashmiri with money in the past, including in approximately December 2009; and Khan discussed the possibility of having his son transport the money from the United States to England, where Khan would rendevous with his son, retrieve the money, and deliver it to Kashmiri in Pakistan.
On March 23, government agents at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport came into contact with Khan’s son, who was traveling to England. During this contact, agents discovered that Khan’s son possessed seven of the ten $100 bills that the undercover agent had given to Khan, according to the affidavit.
Each count of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, the court is required to impose a reasonable sentence under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.
The ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Chicago FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, with particular assistance from the Chicago Police Department, the Illinois State Police, and the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Veatch and Steven Dollear, of the Northern District of Illinois, with assistance from the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
The public is reminded that a criminal complaint contains mere allegations that are not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/other/des/102878.htm
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http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/huji/index?tab=articles
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http://counterterrorismblog.org/2010/05/huji_reaching_beyond_the_subco.php
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“HuJI Operations Expand Beyond the Indian Subcontinent”
April 29, 2010 04:25 PM
By: Animesh Roul
SNIPPET: “Formed in 1984, the Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI – Movement of Islamic Holy War) has fought Soviets in Afghanistan and Indians in Kashmir before expanding to Bangladesh. From its focused beginnings, HuJI has developed into an international jihadi group that appears ready to demonstrate its global reach. Recent HuJI activities display the group’s intention to expand beyond its traditional operational zone in Bangladesh, India and Kashmir.
Raja Lahrasib Khan, a suspected HuJI operative, was arrested in Chicago on charges of providing material support to al-Qaeda in late March 2010. Khan, a U.S. citizen of Pakistani origin, is suspected of planning a terrorist strike this August on a “big stadium” in the United States along with Pakistan based HuJI chief Ilyas Kashmiri, the notorious former Pakistani army commando who now commands the deadly 313 Brigade he created within HuJI. The 313 Brigade has operational ties with al-Qaeda (Chicago Tribune, March 30; Times of India, April 6).”
SNIPPET: “Elsewhere, Golam Mostafa, a Bangladeshi-born British citizen and the U.K. HuJi unit chief, was arrested in Sylhet, Bangladesh for his alleged involvement in financing militant groups and attempts to reorganize terrorist organizations in the region, including Hizb ut-Tahrir and Jama’tul Mujahideen Bangladesh (New Nation [Dhaka], April 18; for Hizb ut-Tahrir, see Daily Independent [Dhaka], April 29).”
SNIPPET: “HuJI has grown over the years into one of the most powerful militant groups in South Asia, perhaps next only to Lashkar e Taiba, and its network is strongly embedded in the region. The development of a British-based fundraising network and a terrorist plot in the United States are evidence of HuJI’s international designs and indicate the movement’s jihad is spilling out of the Indian subcontinent.”
http://www.investigativeproject.org/2022/illyas-kashmiri-pakistans-frankenstein
“Ilyas Kashmiri - Pakistan’s Frankenstein
Al Qaeda commander continues to pose a threat to U.S. and South Asian security as Pakistan’s military and intelligence services look the other way”
IPT News
June 22, 2010
SNIPPET: “Top Al Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri poses a major threat to U.S. interests both at home and abroad. Described by intelligence agencies “as the most effective, dangerous and successful guerrilla leader in the world,” Kashmiri heads Al Qaeda’s military operations wing. He figures prominently in two recent high-profile terrorism indictments issued in Chicago.
But Kashmiri remains free in South Asia and in control of a renowned Al Qaeda terror cell called the 313 Brigade, in large part due to support from rogue elements tied to the Pakistani military and intelligence services.”
NOTE The following text is a quote:
www.fbi.gov/chicago/press-releases/2012/chicago-man-pleads-guilty-to-attempting-to-provide-funds-to-support-al-qaeda-in-pakistan
Chicago Man Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Provide Funds to Support al Qaeda in Pakistan
U.S. Attorney’s Office
February 06, 2012
Northern District of Illinois
CHICAGO—A Chicago man, who personally provided hundreds of dollars to an alleged terrorist leader with whom he had met in his native Pakistan, pleaded guilty today to attempting to provide additional funds to the same individual after learning he was working with al Qaeda. The defendant, Raja Lahrasib Khan, a Chicago taxi driver and native of Pakistan who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1988, pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, resolving charges that have been pending since he was arrested in March 2010.
Khan, 58, of Chicago’s north side, never posed any imminent domestic danger, law enforcement officials said at the time of his arrest. He remains in federal custody while awaiting sentencing, which U.S. District Judge James Zagel scheduled for 2 p.m. on May 30, 2011.
Khan faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. His plea agreement calls for an agreed sentence of between five and eight years in prison, and it requires Khan to cooperate with the government in any matter in which he is called upon to assist through the termination of his sentence and any period of supervised release.
The guilty plea was announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the FBI.
Khan, who was born and resided in the Azad Kashmir region of Pakistan before immigrating to the United States in the late 1970s, admitted that he met with Ilyas Kashmiri, a leader of the Kashmir independence movement, in Pakistan in the early to mid-2000s and again in 2008. At the time of the second meeting, Khan knew or had reason to believe that Kashmiri was working with al Qaeda, in addition to leading attacks against the Indian government in the Kashmir region. During their 2008 meeting, Kashmiri told Khan that Osama bin Laden was alive, healthy, and giving orders, and Khan gave Kashmiri approximately 20,000 Pakistani rupees (approximately $200 to $250), which he intended Kashmiri to use to support attacks against India.
On Nov. 23, 2009, Khan sent approximately 77,917 rupees (approximately $930) from Chicago to an individual in Pakistan, via Western Union, and then directed the individual by phone to give Kashmiri approximately 25,000 rupees (approximately $300). Although Khan intended the funds to be used by Kashmiri to support attacks against India, he was also aware that Kashmiri was working with al Qaeda.
In February and March 2010, Khan participated in several meetings with an undercover law enforcement agent who posed as someone interested in sending money to Kashmiri to purchase weapons and ammunition, but only if Kashmiri was working with al Qaeda, as well as sending individuals into Pakistan to receive military-style training so they could conduct attacks against U.S. forces and interests. On March 17, 2010, the undercover agent provided Khan with $1,000, which Khan agreed to provide to Kashmiri. Khan then gave the funds to his son, who was traveling from the United States to the United Kingdom (U.K.), intending to later retrieve the money from his son in the U.K. and subsequently provide it to Kashmiri in Pakistan.
On March 23, 2010, Khan’s son arrived at an airport in the U.K. and a search by U.K. law enforcement officials yielded seven of the ten $100 bills that the undercover agent had provided to Khan. After learning of his son’s detention, Khan attempted to end his involvement in the scheme to provide funds to Kashmiri by requesting an urgent meeting with another individual who was also present at Khan’s earlier meetings with the undercover agent. During their meeting, Khan demanded to return the undercover agent’s funds by providing $800 to this other individual.
The investigation was conducted by the Chicago FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, with particular assistance from the Chicago Police Department, the Illinois State Police and the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Veatch and Heather McShain and trial attorney Joseph Kaster, of the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
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