Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley today said that the US had once financed his trip to Pakistan and also claimed that he had “donated” about Rs 70 lakh to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) till 2006, two years before the Mumbai attacks.
The 55-year-old terrorist, who was cross-examined via video link from the US, told the court that after his arrest in 1998,
The Drug Enforcement Authority (DEA) of the US financed my trip. I was in contact with the DEA then, but it is not true that between 1988 and 1998 I was providing information or assisting the DEA.
Picking holes in the credibility of Headley’s evidence, 26/11 attack plotter Abu Jundal’s lawyer today argued that the terrorist, who faced conviction twice in the past before the Mumbai strikes, had indulged in criminal activities and violated his plea bargain agreements with the US government.
Headley was convicted in 1988 and 1998 by a court in the US for alleged drug smuggling, Jundal’s lawyer, Abdul Wahab Khan, said. However, on both the occasions, Headley had entered into a plea bargain with the American government and got off with a lighter sentence.
Headley told the court that after completing his four-year sentence in 1988, he was involved in drug smuggling from 1992 to 1998 and had visited Pakistan during this period.
Headley was examined by the prosecution in February this year for five days with the court later adjourning the case for his cross-examination, which started from Wednesday.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)