NOW THAT Osama bin Laden is dead, what happens to the $27-million bounty on his head?
The US government through its State Department’s Rewards for Justice Program, had offered a $25-million reward for any information on Bin Laden, while an additional $2 million had been raised privately by the Airline Pilots Association and Air Transport Association.
According to officials of US President Barack Obama’s administration, unidentified detainees provided key information on Bin Laden.
But an article by CNNMoney.com says it is yet unclear if the reward money, whether wholly or partly, has been given to anyone. The US State Department is not talking.
State Department spokesperson Heide Fulton told Yahoo!News’ The Lookout that “given the importance of confidentiality … we can’t comment on whether or not anyone’s been nominated for a reward.”
$30M for Saddam’s sons
Another spokesperson for the State Department, Harry Edwards, told CNNMoney.com that “the department does not generally discuss nominations for awards.”
It is also possible that no reward money will be granted, CNNMoney.com said.
Rewards, however, have been granted for the capture of other international terrorists. The largest reward ever paid was $30 million for information on Uday and Qusay Hussein, sons of the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, described as the worst terrorist attack in US history, has been part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives since June 1999, according to telegraph.co.uk.
Sources: CNNMoney.com, news.yahoo.com, telegraph.co.uk, fbi.gov