Asif Merchant paid US ‘hitmen’ dollars through Karachi hawala-hundi

KARACHI: Asif Merchant, the Pakistani arrested by American authorities for allegedly planning to assassinate a political personality, holding rallies and official document theft, asked for and received $5000 to hire killers from his uncle in Karachi through non-banking hawala hundi channels, The News learnt Thursday.

“We have formally received an intelligence request from the authorities, following which we found that the money was sent to Mr Merchant by his maternal uncle,” an official directly linked to the investigations told The News/Geo.

His uncle said that he received the request for money from Merchant who said that he needed it for business. His uncle is linked with a company that at one point exported as much as $2 million in clothing.

Merchant had been working with his uncle’s company since his resignation from a bank in Punjab in 2019. He apparently visited the US to explore business possibilities there. The telephone numbers of the company are now either switched off or staff attends and claims it is not the correct number for the office.

This was not his first trip to the US, which he had visited at least thrice in 2013, 2017 and most recently in 2024. He had apparently travelled on B1-B2 visas, according to Pakistani officials.

Merchant has a sister who resides in the US. He was arrested at the airport while trying to fly back to Pakistan. The family in Karachi found out of his arrest by July 14 when he failed to reach Karachi.

It is learnt that Merchant made at least 15 trips to Iran, Iraq and Yemen since 2015 ostensibly to scout out connections. He started being radicalised 2013 onwards but it is not yet clear what exactly turned a young businessman into a suspected terrorist.

His uncle was apparently unaware of his nephew’s plans. However, he was being questioned as of the filing of this report.

Intelligence officials claimed that the US law enforcement agencies did not share the information of Merchant’s arrest. They first found out through the media reports prior to the official requests.

The American Justice department had claimed the following: In mid-June, Merchant met with the purported hitmen, who were in fact undercover US law enforcement officers (the UCs) in New York.

Merchant advised the UCs that he was looking for three services from them: theft of documents, arranging protests at political rallies, and for them to kill a “political person”.

Merchant stated that the hitmen would receive instructions on who to kill either the last week of August or the first week of September, after Merchant had departed the US. Merchant then began arranging means to obtain $5,000 in cash to pay the UCs as an advance payment for the assassination, which he eventually received with assistance from an individual overseas.

On June 21, Merchant met with the UCs in New York and paid them the $5,000 advance. After Merchant paid the $5,000 to the UCs, one of the UCs stated, “now we’re bonded,” to which Merchant responded “yes.” The UC then stated “Now we know we’re going forward. We’re doing this,” to which Merchant responded “Yes, absolutely.” Merchant subsequently made flight arrangements and planned to leave the United States on Friday, July 12, 2024. On July 12, law enforcement agents placed Merchant under arrest before he could leave the country.