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Interactive Timeline: A Lethal Odyssey

David Coleman Headley was a wildly elusive figure who juggled allegiances with militant groups and security agencies in Pakistan while manipulating and betraying wives, friends and allies. A heroin addict turned drug informant turned militant jihadist and Pakistani spy, he played a pivotal role in planning the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks. U.S. authorities had numerous tips about Headley prior to the attacks, and Indian officials believe he was a double agent working for the U.S. Headley wasn’t arrested until October 2009, when he was plotting a second attack against Denmark.

Related story:The American Behind India’s 9/11—And How U.S. Botched Chances to Stop Him

  DEA
  Lashkar
  Brushes with the law
  Denmark
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010

(PBS FRONTLINE)

David Coleman Headley, then known as Daood Gilani, struggled with heroin addiction in his twenties. In early 1997, the Drug Enforcement Agency arrested him in a sting at a Manhattan hotel. He signs an agreement with the DEA and becomes a confidential source providing information about his drug trafficking activities.
4/28/1997

Interactive timeline generated with ProPublica's TimelineSetter.

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