Treasury Sanctions Lashkar-e Tayyiba Leaders and Founders

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced the designation of two Lashkar-e Tayyiba (LET) leaders and founding members, Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224.

"Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi are two of LET's most significant leaders," said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen. "Over the past 20 years, Iqbal and Bhuttavi have been responsible for fundraising, recruitment, and indoctrination of operatives.  By targeting the core of LET’s leadership, today's action aims to degrade its ability to facilitate its terrorist activities.”

LET is a Pakistan-based terrorist group with links to the al-Qa’ida network and its former leader Usama bin Laden that is responsible for the November 2008 Mumbai attacks and July 2006 Mumbai train bombings. LET was designated by the U.S. pursuant to E.O. 13224 and named a Foreign Terrorist Organization in December 2001, and was added to the UN 1267/1989 list in May 2005.  Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD) was designated as an alias of LET under E.O. 13224 in April 2006 and was added to the UN 1267/1989 list as an alias of LET in December 2008. 

As a result of today’s action, U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi and any assets they may have in the U.S. are frozen.

Zafar Iqbal

Zafar Iqbal is a senior leader and co-founder of LET, has served in various LET/JUD senior leadership positions and was once considered LET/JUD’s second-in-command.  As of late 2010, Iqbal was in charge of LET/JUD’s finance department. Zafar Iqbal has also been involved in LET/JUD fundraising activities. As of 2008, he was identified as LET/JUD’s chief of fundraising, and in 2010, Iqbal was overseeing the construction of an LET/JUD facility.

From 2003 to 2010, Iqbal was also the director of LET/JUD’s education department. In this capacity, Iqbal has been involved in recruiting activities on behalf of the group and has prepared the curricula for schools run by LET/JUD in Pakistan. As of 2010, Iqbal was a joint secretary of a university trust created by LET/JUD to carry out activities on behalf of the group.

Iqbal formed LET in the late 1980s with current LET/JUD emir Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, designated by the U.S. pursuant to E.O. 13224 in May 2008, and by the UN in December 2008. In 1989 or 1990, Iqbal traveled to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia with LET/JUD emir Hafiz Muhammad Saeed to request financial support from Usama bin Laden.

Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi

Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi is a founding member of LET and deputy to LET/JUD emir Hafiz Muhammad Saeed. Bhuttavi has served as the acting emir of LET/JUD on at least two occasions, including when Saeed was detained in the days after the November 2008 Mumbai attack and held until June 2009. Bhuttavi handled the group’s day-to-day functions during this period.

Bhuttavi also helped prepare the operatives for the November 2008 Mumbai attacks by delivering lectures on the merits of martyrdom. Bhuttavi has issued fatwas authorizing LET/JUD’s militant operations, has instructed group leaders and members, and is responsible for LET/JUD’s madrassah network. In mid-2002, Bhuttavi was in charge of establishing an LET/JUD organizational base in Lahore, Pakistan.

Treasury Sanctions Three Senior Members of the Jemaah Islamiya Terrorist Network

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced the designation of Umar Patek, Abdul Rahim Ba’asyir and Muhammad Jibril Abdul Rahman, three senior members of Jemaah Islamiya (JI), the Southeast Asia-based designated terrorist network with links to al-Qa’ida.

“These three men have demonstrated their commitment to violence,” said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen. “Today’s actions are intended to disrupt their ability to access the international financial system to support their deadly agendas.”

Today’s designations were taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, which targets for sanctions terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. As a result of today’s action, U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in transactions with these individuals, and assets they may hold under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen.

Umar Patek

Umar Patek is a senior member of the JI network and has planned and funded multiple JI terrorist attacks in the Philippines and Indonesia. Patek has also trained operatives associated with the terrorist organization the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and personally developed explosive devices for this Philippines-based organization. He was detained in Pakistan in early 2011 and was recently extradited from Pakistan to Indonesia.  

As of early 2010, Patek was considered to be one of the JI network’s top leaders. In his capacity as a leader of the JI network in Mindanao, the Philippines, Patek received approximately $29,000 to cover his expenses and all of his JI group’s militant activities in the Southern Philippines. Patek obtained funding for operations that were to include a large-scale car bombing in metropolitan Manila, attacks on Philippine military camps in Mindanao and assassinations of prominent foreigners.

In 2002, Patek was involved in planning and preparing for the October 2002 Bali attacks. A few weeks before the blasts, Patek attended the meeting in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia, where participants — including now deceased JI leaders Dulmatin, Samudra and Mukhlas — agreed to execute the Bali bombings. Patek also was personally involved in assembling the van bomb and explosives used in the Bali attack.

As of mid-2007, Patek and JI leader Dulmatin were teaching ASG members bomb-making techniques including training in Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). The IEDs were intended to block Armed Forces of Philippine troops who might be in pursuit of JI and the ASG. As of early 2006, Patek had built bombs for the ASG using 60 mm mortar bombs.

Abdul Rahim Ba’asyir (Abdul Rahim)

Abdul Rahim Ba’asyir is a JI network leader who has trained and led JI operatives in South and Southeast Asia since the late 1990s, and has provided facilitation and other support to al-Qa’ida. As of mid-2009, Abdul Rahim was regarded as a senior JI leader with the ability to instigate violence. 

In 2005, Abdul Rahim was selected as the leader of JI’s administrative region, Wakalah, in central Java, Indonesia. As such, Abdul Rahim was responsible for overseeing JI cells, had full knowledge of certain JI operations in Indonesia in 2005 and 2006 and maintained close relations with clandestine elements of JI in 2007.

Abdul Rahim served from the late 1990s until 2002 as a leader of JI’s Al-Ghuraba cell in Karachi, Pakistan. A smaller organization modeled after JI, Al-Ghuraba was formed with the approval of al-Qa’ida and JI leader Hambali to groom the next generation of JI leaders, provide them with training in weapons and explosives and give them firsthand experience in militant operations. Hambali also planned for Al-Ghuraba to become a cover entity for supporting the travel of JI operatives to obtain al-Qa’ida training in Afghanistan. 

Abdul Rahim was appointed by Hambali to lead JI’s Al-Ghuraba cell because Abdul Rahim was a recognized figure within JI and al-Qa’ida. As the Al-Ghuraba leader, Abdul Rahim indoctrinated students to become future JI leaders and instructed that Al-Ghuraba cell members should kill Americans at every opportunity. Abdul Rahim also taught them how to carry out a hijacking operation. Hambali was designated by the United States pursuant to E.O. 13224 and added to the United Nations (UN) 1267 Committee’s list in January 2003.

While in Pakistan and Afghanistan from the late 1990s to mid-2002, Abdul Rahim also served as JI’s main contact with al-Qa’ida and played a key facilitation role for al-Qa’ida. Abdul Rahim swore an oath of loyalty to Usama bin Laden and provided logistical, communications and media support to al-Qa’ida in several instances. Abdul Rahim also served the role of an al-Qa’ida conduit for fighters in Pakistan and as an intermediary between Hambali and al-Qa’ida, relaying messages between them.

Abdul Rahim was one of several al-Qa’ida members who controlled an al-Qa’ida media center in Afghanistan and directed its activities. The media center produced videos and photos for al-Qa’ida propaganda. In May 2001, Abdul Rahim was also present at a meeting of selected 9/11 hijackers in Afghanistan and likely participated in making the videos of their last wills and testaments. Upon returning to Indonesia in 2002, Abdul Rahim continued to provide support for al-Qa’ida. As of early 2004, Abdul Rahim was reportedly al-Qa’ida’s only contact in Southeast Asia. Abdul Rahim regularly passed information to a senior al-Qa’ida operative known as Abu Talha until at least mid-2004.

Abdul Rahim has also been involved in JI's outreach to the Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar-e Tayyiba (LET). Sometime after 1999, Abdul Rahim was tasked by JI member Zulkarnaen to run a madrassa in Pakistan and was encouraged to expand cooperation between JI and LET through this madrassa. Zulkarnaen was designated by the United States pursuant to E.O. 13224 and added to the UN 1267 Committee’s list in May 2005.

Muhammad Jibril Abdul Rahman (Jibril)

Muhammad Jibril Abdul Rahman is a senior member of the JI network and has been directly involved in obtaining funding for terrorist attacks and other JI-linked operational activities. Jibril has solicited funds on behalf of now-deceased senior JI member Noordin Mohammad Top, who led the JI faction that conducted the group's July 2009 attacks, which killed seven people and wounded approximately 50 others in Jakarta. At a meeting with Top and Saefudin Zuhri, the now deceased main plotter of the July 2009 bombings, Jibril agreed to provide Top with funding for terrorist operations. He then contacted his brother to request that he arrange for approximately $10,000 in cash to be passed to Top. 

A letter found on Top’s laptop written by Zuhri identified Jibril as the connection between Top’s network and foreigners providing funding.

As of late 2008, Jibril was working on behalf of JI member Imam Samudra and the other JI Bali bombers. Samudra was executed by a firing squad in Indonesia in November 2008 for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people.

Jibril was a senior member of JI’s Pakistan-based Al-Ghuraba cell and had been carefully preselected for travel to Pakistan as a member of that cell. While in Pakistan, Jibril participated in military training and in 2001 was dispatched to Kashmir by JI member and Al-Ghuraba cell leader Gun Gun Rusman Gunawan. Gunawan was designated by the U.S. pursuant to E.O. 13224 and added to the UN 1267 Committee’s list in April 2006. Jibril returned to Pakistan in 2007, where he met with al-Qa’ida and Taliban personnel.

He was sentenced in Indonesia to five years in jail in June 2010 for concealing information about terrorist crimes in connection with the July 2009 attacks in Jakarta and for falsifying documents.