Juma Khan

{{Short description|Afghani drug lord}} {{for | the individual held in Guantanamo | Afghan captives in Guantanamo}} {{Infobox WoT detainees | name = Juma Khan<br />{{nq|جمعه خان}} | image_caption = | date_of_birth =  | birth_place = Nimruz Province, Afghanistan | date_of_arrest = | place_of_arrest = USA | arresting_authority = DEA | date_of_release = | place_of_release = | date_of_death =  | place_of_death = | citizenship = Afghanistan | detained_at = | id_number = | group = | alias = | charge = Charges, if any, were never made public | penalty = | status = Khan disappeared, once in US custody | occupation = | spouse = | parents = | children = }} '''Juma Khan''' is an ethnic Baloch drug lord from Afghanistan's southern Nimruz Province.<ref>{{cite news | author-link = Declan Walsh | first = Declan |last = Walsh | url = https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/16/drugstrade.afghanistan | title = Flower power | work = The Guardian | date = August 16, 2008 }}</ref>

Juma Khan was an illiterate provincial Baloch drug smuggler from Nimruz Province in southwestern Afghanistan in the 1990s. He suddenly rose to national prominence after the American-led invasion of Afghanistan. He was briefly detained by American forces after the 2001 fall of the Taliban and released, even though American officials knew that he was involved in narcotics trafficking.<ref name=Nytimes2010-12-12>{{cite news | author-link = James Risen |first=James |last=Risen |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/world/asia/12drugs.html?pagewanted=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a2 |title=Propping Up a Drug Lord, Then Arresting Him | work = The New York Times | page = A1| date=December 11, 2010 | quote = Now, plea negotiations are quietly under way. A plea bargain might keep many of the details of his relationship to the United States out of the public record. }}</ref> After being released, he inexplicably seized control of the town of Bahramcha in the Chagai Hills on the Pakistan-Iran-Afghanistan border in late 2001 and turned it into a hub of drug smuggling and gun running into Pakistan and Iran.

His organization was designated as a Narcotics Kingpin under the SDN by the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, with addresses in Pakistan and Afghanistan.<ref>{{Cite web |title=HAJI JUMA KHAN ORGANIZATION |url=https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/Details.aspx?id=11502 |access-date=2022-09-09 |website=sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov}}</ref>

In 2008, he was detained for unknown reasons in Indonesia and transported to New York. He was quietly released on April 20, 2018, without any pending charges or a trial.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/|title=Inmate Locator}}</ref><ref name="Intercept">{{cite news |first=Jhonny |last=Dwyer |url=https://theintercept.com/2018/05/01/haji-juma-khan-afghanistan-drug-trafficking-cia-dea/ |title=The U.S. Quietly Released Afghanistan's "Biggest Drug Kingpin" From Prison. Did He Cut a Deal?|publisher=The Intercept }}</ref> No official explanation was provided.

==See also== *Bashir Noorzai

== References == <references/>

== External links == *[http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/ "Fierce factional fighting reported in northwestern Afghanistan"] ''Deutsche Presse-Agentur'' March 26, 2003. ''Lexis-Nexis'' September 10, 2003 *[http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/ "Afghan government probes killings in northwest"] ''Agence France Presse'' May 1, 2003. ''Lexis Nexis'' September 10, 2003 *[https://web.archive.org/web/20030804233505/http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2003-daily/06-04-2003/main/main10.htm "Ex-Taliban governor held in Afghanistan"] April 6, 2003. ''The News'' September 10, 2003

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Juma}} Category:Baloch people Category:Taliban members Category:Living people Category:Afghan drug traffickers Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List Category:People sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act