Bashir Noorzai, an Afghan tribal leader, was arrested in 2005 and charged with smuggling more than $50 million worth of heroin into the United States. U.S. authorities have called him one of the world's most wanted drug traffickers and compared him to Colombian cocaine trafficker Pablo Escobar.
Noorzai's lawyer denied his client was a drug dealer and argued the charges should be dismissed because U.S. government officials duped him into believing he would not be arrested.According to the ruling by U.S. District Judge Laura Swain, Noorzai told agents that he traveled to the United States to meet with U.S. officials to discuss Afghanistan's future.Prosecutors agreed that officers overseas had at one point promised Noorzai he would not be arrested. But the officers were instructed to back off such promises, and no official immunity deal was offered, the judge said.
Noorzai had previously cooperated with U.S. authorities in Afghanistan in the 1990s and following the September 11 attacks of 2001, providing information and turning over weaponry, including U.S. stinger missiles.Swain also ruled statements taken from a Manhattan hotel room where Noorzai was questioned by FBI agents over an 11-day period could be used in his upcoming trial. Noorzai had argued he did not know he was being investigated."The record makes clear Mr. Noorzai's understanding of the potential gravity of the situation and the events leading up to his travel to the United States," Swain said.
Noorzai's lawyer denied his client was a drug dealer and argued the charges should be dismissed because U.S. government officials duped him into believing he would not be arrested.According to the ruling by U.S. District Judge Laura Swain, Noorzai told agents that he traveled to the United States to meet with U.S. officials to discuss Afghanistan's future.Prosecutors agreed that officers overseas had at one point promised Noorzai he would not be arrested. But the officers were instructed to back off such promises, and no official immunity deal was offered, the judge said.
Noorzai had previously cooperated with U.S. authorities in Afghanistan in the 1990s and following the September 11 attacks of 2001, providing information and turning over weaponry, including U.S. stinger missiles.Swain also ruled statements taken from a Manhattan hotel room where Noorzai was questioned by FBI agents over an 11-day period could be used in his upcoming trial. Noorzai had argued he did not know he was being investigated."The record makes clear Mr. Noorzai's understanding of the potential gravity of the situation and the events leading up to his travel to the United States," Swain said.
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