The FBI received a tip three years before the 2008 Mumbai attacks that a US man who helped scout the targets was tied to the Pakistani group behind the plot, the Washington Post reported on Friday.
The man, David Headley, pleaded guilty in March to a dozen US terrorism charges related to the Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed, and to a plot to attack a Danish newspaper that had published cartoons in 2005 that lampooned the Prophet Mohammed.
He admitted to scouting the targets for the Islamist militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) and agreed to help investigators and give testimony against others in exchange for a promise that he would not be extradited to India, Pakistan or Denmark.
DOMESTIC DISPUTE
The Washington Post reported that the FBI received a tip in 2005 about Headley’s involvement from his wife after the two were in a domestic dispute that resulted in his arrest.
Headley’s wife told them in interviews that he was active in LET, had trained in Pakistani camps and had looked for night-vision goggles, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed officials and sources close to the case.
ACTION TAKEN?
An FBI spokesman declined to comment on the report. The Washington Post reported that officials confirmed they did receive the tip from Headley’s wife at the time, but would not discuss what they did with the information.
US authorities regularly receive tips about possible terrorism plots.
Headley, who spent his childhood in Pakistan and whose father was Pakistani, changed his name in 2005 from Daood Gilani to make travel through security easier.
He was arrested about a year ago at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport as he was trying to leave for Pakistan. He was found with about a dozen surveillance videos from Denmark he had planned to deliver to his handlers.
The 2008 attacks in Mumbai, in which six Americans were among the dead, lasted for three days and further escalated tensions between India and neighboring Pakistan, where LET militants are based.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
RSS