Rana Is A ‘Risk of Flight’, Observes Chicago Court

A Chicago court has denied bail to Pakistan-born Canadian national and suspected Lashkar operative on the grounds of his being a ‘flight risk’.

The court of Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan observed that Rana had travelled extensively outside the US and enjoys considerable financial resources and expertise in immigration matters.

She maintained that Rana has strong family ties with Canada where his father and siblings live and ‘has some but not substantial ties to the US and so is a ‘risk of flight’.

It may be mentioned that Rana, who runs an immigration business and grocery store in Chicago, has visited countries like Dubai, China, India, UK, Germany and Saudi Arabia.

Observing that he has strong financial resources worth $ 1.6 million, Judge Nolan said that Rana could use them if he has to fly out of the country.

In a 45 minute court hearing, Nolan concluded that ‘due to all these reasons, Rana poses a serious risk of flight’.

Rana, who was arrested by the FBI in October, was present during the hearing.

In the chargesheet, the FBI said that Rana knew about the Mumbai terror attack plot in advance and that he and his aide David Coleman Headley, charged in connection with 26/11 attacks, discussed the plot in a conversation on September 7 which was secretly recorded.

Rana reportedly also said that the terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba leader who planned the attack should be congratulated.

Both have also been charged with planning a terror strike against a Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten that had printed Prophet Muhammad’s cartoons in 2005.

Rana denied all the charges and had offered a security of nearly a $1 million in support of his bail application.

Rana’s attorney Patrick Blegen also denied all the charges levelled against his client.