US indicts Pak-origin cabbie for attempting to aid Qaeda

A Pakistani-origin taxi driver,with suspected links to HuJI chief Ilyas Kashmiri,has been indicted on charges of 'knowingly' attempting to aid al-Qaida.

A Pakistani-origin taxi driver,with suspected links to HuJI chief Ilyas Kashmiri,has been indicted on charges of “knowingly” attempting to aid al-Qaida.

The FBI,which arrested Raja Lahrasib Khan on March 26,has accused the cabbie for attempting to provide material support and funds to al-Qaeda via Pakistan based terrorist Kashmiri.

In an FBI complaint to a US court here,Khan has been indicted on two counts — attempting to aid al-Qaida “on or about Nov 23,2009” and again violating law by trying to support the terrorist organisation between March 17 and March 23 this year.

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Now,there will not be a preliminary hearing at which Khan could have challenged the government’s evidence as an indictment has already been returned.

Khan,who claims to have known al-Qaeda-linked Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami chief for 15 years,is being held at the federal lock-up Metropolitan Correctional Centre where 26/11 plotter David Coleman Headley and co-accused Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana are also detained.

The cabbie came to the US in 1975 and became a naturalised citizen in 1998. He has three children from his previous marriage and has been married to an American since 1994.