New York City– Haji Abdul Satar Abdul Manaf, 59, from Afghanistan, also referred to as Haji Abdul Sattar Barakzai, received a 30-year prison sentence for his involvement in importing heroin into the U.S., participating in narco-terrorism linked to the Taliban, attempting to engage in narco-terrorism associated with the Haqqani Network, and committing witness tampering offenses.
Manaf received a conviction following a jury trial that lasted two weeks and wrapped up in August. Court documents, trial evidence, and public court statements reveal that in June 2012, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Manaf under the U.S. terrorism sanctions authority, Executive Order No. 13224, for facilitating the storage or transfer of funds for the Taliban.
The Treasury Department revealed that Manaf has been implicated in financial support for the Taliban, stating that he “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.”
Starting in January 2018, Manaf made efforts to bring significant amounts of heroin into the United States, funded the Taliban to aid his drug trafficking activities, and sought to offer financial assistance to the Haqqani Network, a violent group associated with the Taliban. Manaf took part in face-to-face meetings, documented phone conversations, and engaged in electronic communications with five individuals whom he believed were connected to a global drug trafficking network.
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In those discussions, Manaf facilitated the importation of significant amounts of heroin into the U.S., aware that a portion of the profits from this drug trafficking would be allocated to the Taliban and the Haqqani Network. Four of these individuals were, indeed, confidential sources for the DEA. The fifth individual was an undercover agent from the DEA.
The Haqqani Network and the Taliban have engaged in notable acts of violence targeting U.S. interests, particularly against U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan. In August 2018, Manaf provided a ten-kilogram shipment of heroin in Afghanistan, following the UC’s indication that the heroin was intended for importation into the United States for sale in New York.
Manaf consistently informed the UC that he had compensated the Taliban regarding the ten-kilo shipment and indicated that heavily armed Taliban members would oversee and transport upcoming heroin shipments for him and the UC. In August 2018, Manaf orchestrated the movement of thousands of dollars, which he thought were proceeds from drug activities, via his money-remitting business to individuals he had been informed were affiliated with the Haqqani Network. Manaf later consented to provide the UC with large quantities of heroin for entry into the United States.
After being apprehended abroad and later extradited, Manaf, while in custody in New York awaiting trial, instructed his relatives in Afghanistan to abduct and intimidate a DEA informant — someone who could testify against him — in a bid to suppress their testimony. In a series of recorded prison calls from February and March 2019, Manaf instructed his brothers to bring the source to his family home, emphasizing that they should not let him go for even a moment.
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He directed them to take the source’s phone and to hand him over to a “security chief” who would ensure the source would “confess like a parrot” and “tell the whole story in two minutes.” Manaf’s brothers followed his orders precisely — they abducted the DEA informant at gunpoint in Afghanistan and issued threats against his life.
Manaf received a prison sentence along with five years of supervised release and was mandated to forfeit the gains from his illegal activities.