New Delhi: Obaidullah Syed, a Pakistani-American businessman and owner of Business System International Pvt Ltd (BSI Pakistan), was convicted in 2021 for illegally exporting high-performance computing equipment from the United States to Pakistan’s nuclear research agency. Despite this conviction, BSI Pakistan was listed as a partner by Maxar Technologies, a US-based space-tech firm providing high-resolution satellite imagery to government agencies and private firms worldwide, in 2023.
Syed’s illegal activities, spanning from 2006 to 2015, involved conspiring with BSI employees in Pakistan to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by exporting computer equipment to the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) without the required authorisation from the US Department of Commerce. The PAEC is responsible for designing and testing high explosives and nuclear weapon components, as well as developing solid-fuelled ballistic missiles.
In addition to the PAEC, Syed’s firm supplied equipment to the Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), a public research university in Islamabad that trains engineers and scientists for the PAEC.
“The US export laws and regulations included the PAEC in a list of entities (“Entity List’) who may pose unusual or extraordinary threats to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States,” read the indictment report, which ThePrint accessed. It noted that PAEC is a “prohibited end-user”.
Syed and his co-conspirators falsely represented to US-based computer manufacturers that the shipments were intended for Pakistani universities or Syed’s businesses, thereby circumventing US export regulations. Syed’s co-conspirators included the BSI’s director of marketing and sales, a coordinator, two senior support engineers, and a software engineer.
Also read: Orders for Pahalgam satellite images from US firm peaked two months before attack
Syed’s criminal past was no obstacle for BSI
In 2022, Syed was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison and forfeited $247,000 of criminally derived funds to the US government.
Notably, in 2023, the same year Syed’s sentence concluded, BSI Pakistan was enlisted as a partner by Maxar Technologies. Subsequently, orders for high-resolution satellite images of Pahalgam in Kashmir began appearing on Maxar’s portal. A significant spike in such orders was observed in February 2025, two months prior to a terrorist attack in Pahalgam that resulted in the killing of 26 civilians.
Following ThePrint’s report on Saturday, Maxar Technologies removed BSI Pakistan from its list of partners. In an email response to ThePrint, Maxar claimed that BSI had not placed any tasking orders for Pahalgam or surrounding areas in 2025 and had not ordered any imagery of those areas through their archive.
But the history of the BSI owner’s rap sheet still stands out.
The US Export Administration Regulations (EAR) classify certain goods and services as requiring special permission for export, especially when they can be used for military purposes. Between 2006 and 2015, Syed and his firm violated these regulations by falsely claiming that exported computer equipment was intended for state-based universities or his businesses, when in fact it was utilised by the PAEC.
Maxar Technologies has not responded to ThePrint’s queries regarding whether a background check was conducted before partnering with BSI Pakistan.
(Edited by Prashant)
Also read: Controversial Pakistani firm BSI removed as partner from US satellite company’s website
Ah yes, fooling a US company especially one involved in “specializing in geospatial intelligence, Earth observation, and on-orbit servicing satellites, satellite products, and related services” (quote from wikipedia) is so easy. Both the USA and this company are cold hearted businessmen. They do not care about people dying anywhere around the world. They will sell to the highest bidder. Once again, a quote about them from wikipedia: “In early March 2025, Maxar Technologies suspended Ukraine’s access to its satellite imagery, stating that the request came from the Trump administration. Maxar had been a leading provider of satellite data to Ukraine, which the country used as part of its efforts to defend itself against the Russian invasion. The data was used to track the movement of Russian troops and assess damage to Ukrainian infrastructure.”.