US indicts Pak-origin cabbie for attempting to aid Qaeda

The FBI, which arrested Raja Lahrasib Khan on March 26, has accused the cabbie for attempting to provide material support and funds to al-Qaeda via Pakistan based terrorist Kashmiri.

In an FBI complaint to a US court here, Khan has been indicted on two counts -- attempting to aid al-Qaida "on or about Nov 23, 2009" and again violating law by trying to support the terrorist organisation between March 17 and March 23 this year.

Now, there will not be a preliminary hearing at which Khan could have challenged the government's evidence as an indictment has already been returned.

Khan, who claims to have known al-Qaeda-linked Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami chief for 15 years, is being held at the federal lock-up Metropolitan Correctional Centre where 26/11 plotter David Coleman Headley and co-accused Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana are also detained.

The cabbie came to the US in 1975 and became a naturalised citizen in 1998. He has three children from his previous marriage and has been married to an American since 1994.