OFAC Sanctioned Afghan Man Sentenced To 30 Years In Prison For Narco Terrorism And Witness Tampering

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Anne Milgram, the Administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA"), announced today that HAJI ABDUL SATAR ABDUL MANAF, a/k/a "Haji Abdul Sattar Barakzai," was sentenced to 30 years in prison for attempting to import heroin into the U.S., engaging in narco-terrorism for the benefit of the Taliban, attempting to engage in narco-terrorism for the benefit of the Haqqani Network, and witness tampering offenses. MANAF was convicted after a two-week jury trial that concluded in August 2024. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, who also presided over the trial.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: "Haji Abdul Satar Abdul Manaf was in the business of peddling poison. He leveraged the help of terrorists-the Taliban-to advance his drug business and to expand his drug trafficking operation to the United States. And he did not hesitate to order the kidnapping of a critical witness at gunpoint in an effort to silence him. Thankfully, our law enforcement allies, in partnership with the career national security prosecutors of this Office, put an end to his years of narco-terrorism."

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said: "Haji Abdul Satar Abdul Manaf used heroin as a weapon of war, funding the Taliban and Haqqani Network to spread terror and death. His poison targeted our streets while his profits fueled violence against U.S. coalition forces. Today's sentence sends a clear message: narco-terrorists who bankroll terror and threaten American lives will be brought to justice, no matter where they hide."

According to the Complaint, Indictment, evidence at trial, and statements made in public court proceedings:

In June 2012, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned MANAF pursuant to the U.S.'s terrorism sanctions authority, Executive Order No. 13224, for storing or moving money for the Taliban. In announcing the sanctions against MANAF, the Treasury Department stated that MANAF "donated thousands of dollars to the Taliban to support Taliban activities in Afghanistan and has distributed funds to the Taliban" and provided money "to aid the Taliban's fight against Coalition Forces."

Beginning in at least January 2018, MANAF attempted to import large quantities of heroin into the U.S.; paid benefits to the Taliban to support his heroin trafficking; and attempted to provide financial support to the Haqqani Network, a violent faction of the Taliban. Specifically, MANAF participated in in-person meetings, recorded telephone calls, and electronic communications with five individuals whom MANAF understood to be affiliated with an international drug trafficking organization. During those meetings, MANAF helped arrange to import large quantities of heroin into the U.S. with the assistance of-and recognizing that some of the proceeds of that narcotics trafficking would be provided to-the Taliban and the Haqqani Network. Four of these individuals were, in fact, DEA confidential sources. The fifth was an undercover DEA agent (the "UC").

The Haqqani Network and the Taliban have committed highly public acts of terrorism against U.S. interests, including U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan. In August 2018, MANAF sold the UC a ten-kilogram shipment of heroin (the "Ten Kilo Shipment") in Afghanistan, after the UC told MANAF that the heroin would ultimately be imported into the United States for sale in New York. MANAF repeatedly told the UC that MANAF had paid the Taliban in connection with the production of the Ten Kilo Shipment, and reported that heavily armed members of the Taliban would guard and transport future heroin shipments for MANAF and the UC. In August 2018, MANAF facilitated the transfer of thousands of dollars of what he believed to be narcotics proceeds through his money-remitting business to individuals MANAF had been advised were members of the Haqqani Network. MANAF subsequently agreed to supply the UC with thousand-kilogram loads of heroin for importation into the United States.

Following his arrest overseas and subsequent extradition, and while incarcerated in New York pending trial in this case, MANAF directed members of his family in Afghanistan to kidnap and threaten a DEA source-a witness to his crimes-in an effort to silence him. Specifically, in a series of recorded prison calls in February and March 2019, MANAF directed his brothers to bring the source to MANAF's family home, to "not let him go even for a minute," to take the source's phone, and to hand the source over to a "security chief" who would make the source "confess like a parrot" and "tell the whole story in two minutes." MANAF's brothers did just as he directed-they kidnapped that DEA source at gunpoint in Afghanistan and threatened to kill him.

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In addition to the prison term, MANAF, 59, of Afghanistan, was sentenced to five years of supervised release.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative efforts of the DEA's Special Operations Division's Bilateral Investigations Unit; the DEA European Regional Director; the DEA Copenhagen, Canberra, Dubai, Islamabad, Kabul, New Delhi, and Sydney Country Offices; the Government of Estonia; and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

This prosecution is being handled by the Office's National Security and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sam Adelsberg, Nicholas S. Bradley, and Kimberly J. Ravener are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorney Joshua Champagne of the Counterterrorism Section.

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