A Pakistani geospatial firm, Business System International Pvt Ltd (BSI), illegally acquired satellite images from a Colorado-based company and sold them to the Pakistan government, according to a U.S. federal investigation.
The company and its owner, Obaidullah Syed, were also found to have financial dealings and email communications with senior officials and agencies directly linked to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit uncovered Syed’s ties to the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and the National Development Complex (NDC)—Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence-linked agency responsible for missile development and other means of “weaponising nuclear technology.” According to the news reports, they have accessed the original HSI complaint, which was filed before U.S. Magistrate Judge M. David Weisman on 15 September 2020.
Colorado is known as a global hub for satellite and geospatial companies, including two major players—Maxar Technologies and Albedo Space—that specialise in high-resolution satellite imagery. Maxar later listed BSI Pakistan as one of its partners. Notably, Albedo Space was founded in 2020, while the case against BSI was already progressing in U.S. courts.
“BSI purchases satellite images from a Colorado-based company and then sells those images to an unspecified arm of the Pakistan government,” read the complaint filed by HSI special agent Jennifer Green.
Despite the federal case, BSI continued to operate. In 2022, Syed was sentenced to one year in federal prison for exporting goods and services from the United States to the PAEC. Yet, in 2023, BSI became an official partner of Maxar Technologies. Not long after, satellite image orders of Pahalgam—a region in Jammu and Kashmir—began appearing on BSI’s platform.
Earlier this year, agencies reported an unusual surge in satellite image orders for Pahalgam in February—just two months before a deadly terrorist attack in April that killed 26 civilians. When contacted, a Maxar spokesperson denied that BSI had placed these orders. However, shortly after media report, BSI was quietly removed from Maxar’s list of partners on its official website.
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Direct Links to Pakistan’s Nuclear Programme
Obaidullah Syed, a Pakistani-American businessman based in Northbrook, Illinois, was found to have engaged in repeated interactions with Pakistan’s top government and defence entities. Between 2006 and 2020, Syed exchanged multiple emails with the principal scientific officer of the Directorate of Science Division in Pakistan. Investigators also found that employees of BSI Pakistan were connected with this unnamed officer on various social media platforms.
HSI’s investigation uncovered several email threads between Syed, his company BSI, and Pakistani government officials. These included confirmed monetary transactions with the director of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, which develops and tests nuclear explosive devices, nuclear weapon components, and solid-fuel ballistic missiles.
The complaint also highlighted BSI’s financial transactions with the National Development Complex (NDC), which spearheads missile development and other strategic defence technologies in Pakistan. In one example, dated 28 April 2015, a BSI-Pakistan employee forwarded a scanned copy of a cheque received from NDC to his colleagues.
The document, obtained through a warrant to search another employee’s email, showed the cheque was made out to BSI-Pakistan and signed by “NDC Employee A” in his capacity as Director General (C&S), NDC, Islamabad.
Maxar Yet to Clarify Partnership Details
Maxar Technologies has not responded to the inquiries regarding whether it conducted any due diligence before onboarding BSI—despite the latter’s criminal history. The company has also not officially confirmed whether BSI has now been removed as a partner.
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