A newly unsealed criminal complaint has charged Abdul Zahir Qadeer, also known as “Haji Abdul Zahir,” with conspiracy to import heroin and methamphetamine into the United States, along with related firearms offences.
Qadeer, a former general in Afghanistan’s Border Force and former First Deputy Speaker of the country’s National Assembly’s House of the People, is expected to make his initial appearance in a federal court in Manhattan today after being extradited to the United States on July 10, 2026. He was arrested in Nairobi, Kenya, on April 15, 2025.
“While purporting to be a political leader of Afghanistan, Abdul Zahir Qadeer was allegedly leading a criminal enterprise dealing in dangerous and addictive narcotics and heavy weapons,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “The Drug Enforcement Administration led an investigation that ended Qadeer’s audacious criminal activity, and now he will face justice in the United States.”
“Abdul Zahir Qadeer, a former high-ranking Afghan government official, allegedly also held a dual role as a large-scale international narcotics and military-grade weapons trafficker,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York. “In an attempt to traffic massive amounts of poison and weaponry — including heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers — Qadeer allegedly sold a two-kilogram test shipment to a buyer, which was delivered in South Africa. Unbeknownst to Qadeer, that buyer was working with the DEA. The scale of potential devastation Qadeer was attempting to bring to the U.S. is terrifying. This brazen effort underscores the need for the commitment and expertise of our career prosecutors and DEA partners.”
“”The world is safer now that Abdul Zahir Qadeer is facing justice in the United States. As a former General for Afghanistan’s Border Force, Qadeer was entrusted to protect his country’s borders — instead, he exploited his position to facilitate drug and weapons trafficking that fueled violence and instability,” said Administrator Terrance C. Cole of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “Make no mistake; we will use the full weight of the United States government to bring such individuals to justice. No matter where you are, no matter how powerful you think you are — you are not out of our reach.”
Court documents allege that Abdul Zahir Qadeer previously held several senior positions in Afghanistan before the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
Prosecutors said he served in the country’s National Assembly, where he was elected First Deputy Speaker of the House of the People around 2012. Before his political career, Qadeer was a general in Afghanistan’s Border Force, the paramilitary agency responsible for border security, and led the Eighth Border Battalion stationed in Takhar Province.
Investigators allege that, before his arrest, Abdul Zahir Qadeer operated as a major international trafficker involved in the illicit trade of narcotics and weapons.
According to the complaint, Qadeer held extensive discussions with a man he believed was a member of an international drug trafficking organisation. Prosecutors, however, said the individual was actually a confidential source (CS-1) secretly working under the direction of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
According to the complaint, CS-1 began communicating with Qadeer in November 2024 about a proposed partnership to traffic hundreds of kilograms of heroin and methamphetamine into the United States on behalf of what Qadeer believed was an international drug trafficking organisation.
Prosecutors further alleged that, as an initial step in the arrangement, Qadeer sold a two-kilogram test shipment of methamphetamine on December 10, 2024. The drugs were reportedly delivered to an associate of CS-1 in Johannesburg, South Africa, in exchange for about $14,000.
Following the initial transaction, prosecutors said Qadeer remained in contact with CS-1, continuing negotiations to supply the purported drug trafficking organisation with hundreds of kilograms of heroin and methamphetamine, as well as hundreds of heavy machine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, pistols and grenades. The complaint states that CS-1 indicated the weapons would be used to protect the organisation’s drug trafficking activities against action by the U.S. government.
According to the complaint, after receiving the weapons request, Qadeer allegedly gave CS-1 price quotations for sourcing each item, including $11,579 for a sniper rifle, $9,670 for one model of machine gun, and $1,770 for a box containing 10 grenades.
According to the complaint, Qadeer travelled to Nairobi, Kenya, in April 2025 for a meeting with people he believed were members of the drug trafficking organisation he intended to supply with narcotics and weapons.
Prosecutors said the individuals were actually multiple confidential sources working with the DEA, and Kenyan law enforcement officers arrested Qadeer immediately after the meeting.
Qadeer has been charged with conspiracy to import narcotics, an offence that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
He also faces charges of using and carrying machine guns and destructive devices during the alleged narcotics importation conspiracy, as well as possessing those weapons in furtherance of the conspiracy. Those offences carry a minimum sentence of 30 years and a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
In addition, prosecutors charged him with conspiring to use, carry, and possess machine guns and destructive devices in support of the alleged narcotics importation conspiracy, an offence punishable by up to life imprisonment.
The penalties outlined in the charges are those established by Congress and are provided for informational purposes only. Any sentence imposed on Qadeer will ultimately be decided by the presiding judge.
The investigation was led by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit, while the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Tactical Aviation Unit assisted in Qadeer’s extradition from Kenya to the United States.
Support was also provided by the Office of International Affairs within the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, as well as Kenya’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan L. Bodansky and Chelsea L. Scism of the Southern District of New York.
