Charges framed against Headley in Chicago federal court

Chicago, Dec.8 (ANI): Additional charges against Pakistan-origin terror suspect, David Coleman Headley were tabled in federal court in Chicago for planning terrorist attacks against a Danish newspaper and conducting massive recce if the places targeted during the November 2008, Mumbai terror attacks.

Headley, who was arrested in October, through his lawyers, has authorized the Justice Department here to disclose that he is cooperating in the ongoing investigation of both the Danish and Mumbai terror plots.

Headley, 49, has been charged in a 12-count criminal information with six counts of conspiracy to bomb public places in India, to murder and maim persons in India and Denmark, to provide material support to foreign terrorist plots, and to provide material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba, and six counts of aiding and abetting the murder of U.S. citizens in India.

I may be noted that over 170 people were killed, including six US citizens, in the ghastly terror attacks in Mumbai on November 26,2008 .

Another a criminal complaint was also unsealed in federal court here charging Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed (Abdur Rehman), a retired major in the Pakistani military, with conspiracy in planning attack against the Danish newspaper and its employees.

Commenting on the charges levelled against the two Pakistani-origin men, David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security said that the case highlights that terrorism is now a global threat and that there is a need of constant vigil to ward off the challenges.

"This case serves as a reminder that the terrorist threat is global in nature and requires constant vigilance at home and abroad. We continue to share leads developed in this investigation with our foreign and domestic law enforcement partners as we work together on this important matter," said Kris.

According to the latest charges, Headley changed his name from Daood Gilani in February 2006, in Philadelphia, in order to present himself in India as an American who was neither Muslim nor Pakistani.

He later visited Mumbai five times, in September 2006, February and September 2007, and April and July 2008, and each time took pictures and made videos of various targets, including those attacked on 26 November, 2008.

After each trip that Headley took to India between September 2006 and July 2008, he allegedly returned to Pakistan, met with other co-conspirators and provided them with photographs, videos and oral descriptions of various locations.

At various times, Headley allegedly conducted surveillance of other locations in Mumbai and elsewhere in India of strategically important installations, including the National Defence College in New Delhi. (ANI)