US drops request for Jabir Motiwala’s extradition

LONDON: The United States government has withdrawn extradition request for Karachi businessman Jabir Motiwala.

The US administration has formally written to the British government withdrawing the extradition request for Motiwala who remains in high security Wandsworth prison, pending procedural matters.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed the development when approached by this correspondent. The CPS said: “The US have withdrawn the extradition request, therefore we will not be appealing any decision to grant unconditional bail.”

The Westminster Magistrates’ Court, which originally ordered Motiwala’s extradition, said an application on April 7 was made. The Home Office informed the court that the US might be withdrawing the extradition request and so the judge gave him unconditional bail whilst “we wait for the further information”.

The development comes after The News and Geo reported the full extent of former FBI agent Kamran Faridi’s involvement in the case and how he had issued a detailed statement to London High Court stating that he had abused the process to trap Motiwala in Karachi posing as a drugs dealer.

On March 24 and 25, the London High Court formally heard the witness statement from Kamran Faridi who is currently in a US jail.

Motiwala was arrested on August 15, 2018 from Hilton Hotel on Edgware Road when he arrived in London from Cyprus on a visit – on charges of import of Class-A drugs, extortion and money laundering.

In February 2020, District judge John Zani ordered extradition of Motiwala and sent his case to Home Secretary Priti Patel who cleared his extradition a month later. Motiwala immediately appealed against the decision, arguing that he was at suicide risk and that the District Judge did not take into consideration the full evidence related to conditions of US prisons.

At the London High Court appeal hearing two weeks ago, lawyers of Motiwala told the court that Kamran Faridi had told them in a witness statement that the FBI created problems for him to stop becoming a witness in the UK court to support the Pakistani national who has been languishing in London’s Wandsworth jail for nearly three years now.

According to the US government three FBI agents, including the American Pakistani Kamran Faridi, took part in the trap mission set for Motiwala. One agent travelled to Karachi in 2010 to hold meetings with Motiwala to set up deals for the smuggling of drugs into the USA.

The US government says these meetings were secretly recorded and Motiwala suspected he was being trapped, and reported the same to the Pakistani authorities.

Motiwala’s lawyers had told the court that the FBI informant was not given the opportunity to speak on behalf of his conscience.

Deepak Vij and Amirah Ajaz of ABV solicitors told this reporter they will be releasing full information exclusively in due course but cannot comment at this stage due to legal reasons.