Pak-based LeT backer, business on US terror blacklist

Muhammad Iqbal, whose name figures among the suspects behind the 26/11 Mumbai attack, has been put on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) by the United States.
The Pakistan-based Iqbal had made the payment for the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in Italy that was used by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists in Mumbai to communicate with their handlers in Pakistan.
The US State Department has also declared Asma Money Exchangers (AME), controlled by Iqbal, as a Specially Designated Global Terror outfit.
At the instance of India, Iqbal had been detained in Italy immediately after the 26/11 attacks but was released and deported to Pakistan even before an Indian team could reach there.

"Muhammad Iqbal exploited the trust placed in him as a financial intermediary to help LeT receive money through his business, Asma Money Exchangers," Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, David S Cohen, said in a statement.
The Department of Treasury has said that Iqbal and AME are being designated for "providing financial, material or technological support to, or financial or other services to or in support of LeT, a terrorist organisation in Pakistan".

Based in Lahore, Pakistan, AME is owned by Iqbal. LeT, a banned terror group, had carried out the attack on Mumbai on November 26, 2008, besides a number of other blasts and terror strikes in India.

The action by the Department of Treasury will block all their property and interests in the US and also those which are in control or possession of US persons.
The citizens of the US have been prohibited from engaging in transactions with them as a result of the action from the Department of Treasury.
The statement said that money service providers and other financial institutions must be careful gatekeepers, and keep terrorist money out of the international financial system.