India is set to repatriate Tahawwur Hussain Rana from the United States about the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. As a combined team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) prepares for Rana’s extradition, the case has again brought into focus his close associate, David Coleman Headley — one of the main conspirators in the 2008 attacks that claimed the lives of 166 people, including 20 security force personnel and 26 foreign nationals.
Tahawwur Rana’s extradition comes after years of legal resistance, nearly 16 years after he was first arrested by the FBI. His appeal to block the extradition was recently denied, clearing the way for Indian authorities to bring him back and officially arrest him upon arrival.
David Coleman Headley: The Man Who Mapped Mumbai’s Terror
David Headley, a US citizen of Pakistani descent, had already entered a guilty plea for his involvement in plotting the attacks that terrorized Mumbai for almost three days. He is serving a 35-year term in prison in the United States on terrorism-related offenses connected to both the Mumbai attacks and a botched plot against a Danish newspaper.
Born Daood Sayed Gilani in Washington, DC, Headley is the son of Sayed Salim Gilani, a high-profile Pakistani diplomat and broadcaster, and Alice Serrill Headley, an American. He spent his childhood at a boarding school in Pakistan before moving to the US, where he served at his parents’ pub in Philadelphia. It was then that he started forming connections with the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
From Heroin Trafficking to Terror Camps
In 1998, Headley was jailed for two years for heroin smuggling from Pakistan into the US. After his release, he worked with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), carrying out undercover surveillance missions in Pakistan. Between 2002 and 2005, he visited at least five LeT camps. Responding to orders from Lashkar commanders, Headley made five trips to India to scout for possible targets ahead of the 2008 attacks, the US Department of Justice said.
A Guilty Plea and the Denial of Extradition
David Coleman Headley was caught in 2009 before he could execute additional attacks in Denmark. He later pleaded guilty to terrorism charges and assisted investigators by giving detailed accounts of the functions of Lashkar-e-Taiba and how Pakistani handlers facilitated the 26/11 attacks. The US has turned down repeated requests from Indian authorities to extradite him, citing his cooperation agreement based on which he is testifying.
