ICE removes Pakistani who conspired to launder proceeds of terrorist financing

DALLAS: (Raja Zahid A Khanzada) Officers with U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), turned over to authorities in Islamabad today Saifullah Anjum Ranjha, 53, a Pakistani national and former D. C. business owner who served the last eight years in federal prison for conspiring to launder money and concealing terrorist financing.

Ranjha’s removal was carried out by ICE as a “high profile removal”, a special designation given to aliens living in the United States, who are engaged in or suspected of supporting terrorism, and/or is a direct threat to our country’s national security.

Last year ICE removed or returned 235,413 individuals; 165,935 were apprehended while, or shortly after, attempting to illegally enter the United States. The remaining 69,478 were apprehended in the interior of the United States, and the vast majority of these individuals were convicted criminals who fell within ICE's civil immigration enforcement priorities.

Ranjha, owned homes in the District and Maryland and had been living in the United States as a lawful permanent resident since 1997. In 2008 he pleaded guilty to money laundering more than $2.2 million; which he believed to be the proceeds of illegal activities conducted by al-Qaida, including drug trafficking and weapons smuggling.

An investigation revealed he used his own money remitter business, Hamza Inc., to launder the funds internationally through an informal money transfer system called a “hawala.” Ranjha departed the United States on Monday from San Antonio Texas International Airport in Texas under escort by deportation officers from ERO San Antonio. Upon his arrival in Pakistan, he was turned over to authorities there at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad.