Tanzanian threatens US to pay him $27 million for helping to find Osama bin Laden

He threatens to sue the embassy if he is not rewarded for his contributions.

Ijengo recently sent a letter to the American embassy in the Tanzanian capital recalling his role in the capture of the al-Qaeda leader. He mentioned the embassy's offer in response to the 1998 attacks on US diplomatic missions in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, which included a reward of $27 million for information leading to bin Laden's hideout.

"Based on this assurance, in October 2005, I provided the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania with key information regarding the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. This information was received by U.S. Embassy Special Agent in Charge, Ms Anne Brunn," wrote Ijengo, adding that they contributed to locating and killing bin Laden in May 2011.

The Tanzanian decided that he had fulfilled the terms of the contract, but the American embassy violated it by refusing to pay him any compensation.

"I acted in good faith, risking my safety to help arrest a terrorist, in the hope that the promised reward would be paid," he wrote in the letter.

Demanding the immediate payment of $27 million, Ijengo provided his bank account at NMB Bank in the letter and set a payment deadline of 21 days.

"Unfortunately, failure to comply with this requirement will leave me with no option but to go to court," Ijengo warned American diplomacy in an interview with the Tanzanian daily The Citizen.

The Tanzanian contacted the US Embassy about this matter once, in January 2015, but to no avail.

There is no single official version regarding the tracking down of bin Laden. One says that American intelligence located him in 2011 using electronic intelligence and after tracking a courier contacting the al-Qaeda leader.

Another points to the key role of a Pakistani intelligence officer. But on the International Reward Center website you can find information that the elimination of bin Laden was possible thanks to an anonymous informant who entered the US embassy in Dar es Salaam and revealed that the most wanted terrorist in the world was hiding in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

*

This article was originally published on Onet Travel.