DEA Employed Mumbai Plotter in Pakistan

(Newser) – US authorities not only ignored warnings that Mumbai terror plotter David Headley was involved with Pakistani terror groups, they sent him to Pakistan to work for the Drug Enforcement Agency. Concerns about Headley's involvement with Lashkar-e-Taiba were not raised in 2001 when he was granted early release from probation to travel to Pakistan, finds a New York Times review of case documents. "All I knew was the DEA wanted him in Pakistan as fast as possible because they said they were close to making some big cases,” his former probation officer explained.

Headley, an American citizen, has pleaded guilty to helping plan the Mumbai terror attacks and is in federal custody in Chicago. He appears to have been acting as an informant for the DEA at the same time that he was attending terrorist training camps in Pakistan, although it's unclear when his connection to the US government ended, and the DEA has declined to comment. The Indian government has expressed concerns that US authorities overlooked warnings about Headley's involvement with terrorists because of his links to law enforcement.