A former Pakistani intelligence officer disclosed the hideout of Osama bin laden to the CIA in exchange for $25 million bounty on the head of the al-Qaeda chief, who was living as prisoner under ISI protection in the garrison town of Abbottabad, according to a report.
“In August 2010 a former senior Pakistani intelligence officer approached Jonathan Bank, then the CIA’s station chief at the US embassy in Islamabad. He offered to tell the CIA where to find bin
laden in return for the reward that Washington had offered in 2001,” the Dawn reported,
citing American investigative journalist and author
Seymour M Hersh.
The intelligence official, Hersh said, was a military man who is now living in Washington and working for the CIA as a consultant. “I cannot tell you more about him,” he said.
The US confirmed the information provided by the official and put the compound under satellite surveillance. Americans later informed the ISI which set up a cell in Ghazi, Tarbela, where “one man from the SEAls and two communicators” practised the raid before executing the operation, Hersh said, adding that it was difficult decision but Pakistan was ultimately taken on board and told about the script to kill Osama.