Washington:
A federal grand jury on Friday returned a superseding indictment adding three defendants, including Tahawwur Rana, to charges filed last month against David Coleman Headley, alleging that they and others participated in conspiracies involving a planned terrorist attack against a Danish newspaper and the 26/11 Mumbai attacks that killed 163 people including six American nationals.
The 12-count superseding indictment contains the identical charges that were filed against Headley on December 7, 2009, and adds Rana, a Canadian citizen, as a defendant in three of the counts charging material support of the terrorism plots in Denmark and India, as well as in support of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba. (Read: What David Headley, terror suspect, looks like)
While Rana faces a possible life sentence if convicted, Headley faces a possible death sentence.
Also indicted on conspiracy charges related to the Denmark plot were Ilyas Kashmiri, an alleged terror kingpin in Pakistan who is said to be in regular contact with Al-Qaeda leaders and Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, a retired major in the Pakistani military, the US Department of justice said in a statement. Neither man is in US custody.
Both Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman were charged in two conspiracy counts relating to the Denmark terrorism plot.
Rana and Abdur Rehman were charged separately in previous court filings, but today's indictment charges Kashmiri for the first time, although he was identified by name in the charges
filed previously against Rana, Abdur Rehman and Headley.
Rana, 49, has remained in federal custody in Chicago since he was arrested on October 18 last year in connection with the planned attack on a Danish newspaper.
Rana was indicted today on three counts of providing material support to terrorism or a terrorist organisation - one count of providing material support in preparation for and in carrying out the Mumbai attacks; one count of providing material support to the Denmark terrorism plot; and one count of providing material support to Lashkar-e-Toiba.
No date has been set yet for Rana to be arraigned in Federal Court in Chicago. The case is assigned to US District Judge Harry D Leinenweber.
Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman, also known as "Major Abdur Rehman" and "Pasha", were each charged with one count of conspiracy to murder and maim persons in Denmark, and one count of providing material support to the Danish terrorism plot.
Headley, 49, faces the same 12 counts that were filed against him last month - six counts of conspiracy involving bombing public places in India, murdering and maiming persons in India and Denmark, providing material support to foreign terrorist plots and providing material support to LeT and six counts of aiding and abetting the murder of US citizens in India.
He has remained in federal custody in Chicago since he was arrested by the FBI on October 3.
Headley has pleaded not guilty to the charges but previously authorised the Justice Department to disclose that he is cooperating in the ongoing investigation.
The Justice Department said in 2002 and 2003, Headley allegedly attended terrorism training camps in Pakistan maintained by Lashkar, and conspired with its members and others, including Rana, Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman, in planning and executing the attacks in Denmark and India.
He allegedly conducted extensive surveillance of targets in Mumbai for more than two years preceding the November 2008 attacks.
The superseding indictment was announced by Patrick J Fitzgerald, US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Robert D Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.
The US Attorney's Office for the Central District of California and the FBI offices in Los Angeles and Washington, DC are also participating in the investigation and prosecution.
The 12-count superseding indictment contains the identical charges that were filed against Headley on December 7, 2009, and adds Rana, a Canadian citizen, as a defendant in three of the counts charging material support of the terrorism plots in Denmark and India, as well as in support of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba. (Read: What David Headley, terror suspect, looks like)
While Rana faces a possible life sentence if convicted, Headley faces a possible death sentence.
Also indicted on conspiracy charges related to the Denmark plot were Ilyas Kashmiri, an alleged terror kingpin in Pakistan who is said to be in regular contact with Al-Qaeda leaders and Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, a retired major in the Pakistani military, the US Department of justice said in a statement. Neither man is in US custody.
Both Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman were charged in two conspiracy counts relating to the Denmark terrorism plot.
Rana and Abdur Rehman were charged separately in previous court filings, but today's indictment charges Kashmiri for the first time, although he was identified by name in the charges
filed previously against Rana, Abdur Rehman and Headley.
Rana, 49, has remained in federal custody in Chicago since he was arrested on October 18 last year in connection with the planned attack on a Danish newspaper.
Rana was indicted today on three counts of providing material support to terrorism or a terrorist organisation - one count of providing material support in preparation for and in carrying out the Mumbai attacks; one count of providing material support to the Denmark terrorism plot; and one count of providing material support to Lashkar-e-Toiba.
No date has been set yet for Rana to be arraigned in Federal Court in Chicago. The case is assigned to US District Judge Harry D Leinenweber.
Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman, also known as "Major Abdur Rehman" and "Pasha", were each charged with one count of conspiracy to murder and maim persons in Denmark, and one count of providing material support to the Danish terrorism plot.
Headley, 49, faces the same 12 counts that were filed against him last month - six counts of conspiracy involving bombing public places in India, murdering and maiming persons in India and Denmark, providing material support to foreign terrorist plots and providing material support to LeT and six counts of aiding and abetting the murder of US citizens in India.
He has remained in federal custody in Chicago since he was arrested by the FBI on October 3.
Headley has pleaded not guilty to the charges but previously authorised the Justice Department to disclose that he is cooperating in the ongoing investigation.
The Justice Department said in 2002 and 2003, Headley allegedly attended terrorism training camps in Pakistan maintained by Lashkar, and conspired with its members and others, including Rana, Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman, in planning and executing the attacks in Denmark and India.
He allegedly conducted extensive surveillance of targets in Mumbai for more than two years preceding the November 2008 attacks.
The superseding indictment was announced by Patrick J Fitzgerald, US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Robert D Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.
The US Attorney's Office for the Central District of California and the FBI offices in Los Angeles and Washington, DC are also participating in the investigation and prosecution.
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