WASHINGTON – Haji Juma Khan, described as Afghanistan’s biggest drugkingpin, has reportedly been released from a prison in the US after nearly10 years last month, but terms of his release remain shrouded in mystery,an online news publication said.
Khan, who was arrested in 2008 in a devastating blow to Taliban and itsrelationships with drug traffickers, spent the prison term at theMetropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan. He was reportedly inplea negotiations after it was discovered he was working as an informantfor the U.S. on Taliban operations and other drug smugglers.
Before his arrest, according to the US media, the alleged trafficker wasalso a longtime informer of the CIA and the DEA, received a large amount ofcash from the US government. He also travelled to Washington in 2006 forclandestine meetings with CIA and DEA.
When the US was receiving reports that Khan, who belongs to Afghanistan’sNimruz province, was on his way to becoming Afghanistan’s most importantdrug trafficker by taking over the operations of his rivals and fundingTaliban leaders, a trap was set in Kabul that ultimately led to his arrestin Jakarta, Indonesia from where he was shifted to New York.
Khan is among the first defendants to be prosecuted under the US’ new2006 federal narco-terrorism statute. When Khan was indicted in 2008, theprosecution was of the view that the trafficker will face a maximumsentence of life and a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison.
According to The Intercept, “Since 2012, the filings in Khan’s case havebeen under seal. As a result, it is impossible to determine whether hepleaded guilty to any of the charges against him, whether he received asentence or was ordered to pay restitution to victims, or, upon his releaselast month, whether he was deported or allowed to remain in the UnitedStates”.
The report further added, “All this ambiguity suggests that Khan’srelationship with the government did not end with his arrest. The chargesin the initial indictment carried a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years.His release signals that he likely cut another deal, offering cooperationin the hope of obtaining a reduced sentence. Both the office of the U.S.Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the DEA declined todiscuss Khan’s release”.
According to the United States Attorney Southern District of New Yorklink>,the Afghan drug trafficker “charged with conspiracy to distribute narcoticswith intent to support a terrorist organization.
It said, “Since at least 1999, KHAN led an international opium, morphineand heroin trafficking organization (the “Khan Organization”) basedprincipally in the Helmand and Kandahar provinces of southern Afghanistan”.
It added, “KHAN has been closely aligned with the Taliban, which wasdesignated by the President of the United States as a Specially DesignatedGlobal Terrorist Group in 2002. The Taliban’s totalitarian governmentcontrolled Afghanistan from the mid-1990s until 2001, when it was removedfrom power by the United States and allied military forces. Since theUnited States’ military intervention, the Taliban has operated aninsurgency aimed at re-establishing its control of Afghanistan and forciblyexpelling the United States and its allies through terrorist tactics suchas suicide bombings, improvised explosive devices, shootings andkidnappings, which target American soldiers, Afghan political leaders,security contractors and civilians. The Taliban has publicly claimed creditfor terrorist attacks, including a January 14, 2008 attack on civilians andemployees at the Serena Hotel in Kabul, in which an American citizen wasmurdered”.
After his arrest, federal prosecutors sought to link Khan’s support for theTaliban to a suicide bombing, as well as a separate attack on a Kabul hotelthat killed one American. A trap set by the top DEA official in Kabulultimately led to his arrest.