Juma Khan

Haji Juma Khan, an ethnic Baluch from Afghanistan's Nimroz Province, is a drug lord with links to the Taliban. The title Haji (alternative spelling Hajji) indicates that he has completed the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.[1]

Juma Khan
ArrestedUSA
DEA
CitizenshipAfghanistan
Charge(s)Charges, if any, were never made public
StatusKhan disappeared, once in US custody

Juma Khan, was an illiterate provincial drug smuggler from southwestern Afghanistan in the 1990s. He suddenly rose to national prominence after the American-led invasion of Afghanistan. He was briefly detained by American forces after the 2001 fall of the Taliban and released, even though American officials knew that he was involved in narcotics trafficking.[2] After being released, he inexplicably seized control of the town of Bahramcha in the Chagai Hills on the Pakistan-Iran-Afghanistan border in late 2001 and turned it into a hub of drug smuggling and gun running into Pakistan and Iran. Later Juma Khan allegedly went on to run The Taliban's Opium and Heroin distribution network, selling worldwide and using the profits to equip Taliban forces militarily.[3]

In 2008 he was detained for unknown reasons in Indonesia and transported to New York. He was quietly released sometime in April 2018 without any pending charges or a trial.[4] No official explanation was provided. The details surrounding his release have been very secretive and was not announced in the mainstream media.

See also
  • Haji Bashar

References
  1. Walsh, Declan (August 16, 2008). "Flower power". The Guardian.
  2. Risen, James (December 11, 2010). "Propping Up a Drug Lord, Then Arresting Him". The New York Times. p. A1. Now, plea negotiations are quietly under way. A plea bargain might keep many of the details of his relationship to the United States out of the public record.
  3. McGirk, Tim (August 2, 2004). "Terrorism's Harvest". Time.com.
  4. Dwyer, Jhonny. "The U.S. Quietly Released Afghanistan's "Biggest Drug Kingpin" From Prison. Did He Cut a Deal?". The Intercept.
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