Pakistani police get 10-day time to question 5 Americans
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, Dec 25, IRNA -- A court in Pakistan Friday sought a 10-day time to question five American men over terrorism charges, who believed to have gone missing from Washington D.C. area last month, and were arrested earlier this month, court officials said.
The men, between the ages of 18 and 20, were taken into custody in a raid on a house in Sarghoda, a main city 190 km southeast of the Pakistani capital Islamabad, in Punjab province.
All men were produced in Sargodha and the police requested the court for their physical remanded be extended as the investigators need for further questioning.
Duty Magistrate Muhamamd Aslam Waniwaal handed over the men to the police for further questioning.
The magistrate ordered that the suspects must be produced in the court on January 4.
District Police Officer Dr Usman Thursday told a news conference in Sargodha that interrogation of the suspects has been completed and they would be tried over terrorism charges in an Anti-Terrorism Court.
Usman said that links of the arrested men with Pakistani banned groups have been proved during investigation and terrorism charges have been registered against them.
US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents had also interrogated the five young American Muslims after their arrest who wanted to go to Afghanistan to fight US-led forces, according to Pakistani police.
The five men, students from northern Virginia, tried to contact militants and stayed in touch with each other through the Internet, Usman said.
He said that all data of electronic mails and computer data have been got as evidence.
Two are of Pakistani origin, one of Egyptian origin, one of Yemeni origin and one of Eritrean origin, officials said.
According to documents issued by the police, the five are named Waqar Hussain Khan, Ahmed Minni, Ramy Zamzam, Aman Yemer and Umar Farooq.
There had been reports that Pakistan wanted to deport them to the US but a court in Lahore had blocked their deportation.
The five had visited a religious seminary linked to the outlawed ‘Jaish-e-Mohammad’ militant group in the southern city of Hyderabad, police said.
They had also stayed in Karachi and Lahore and wanted to join jihad, officials said.
Police said that they had found maps from them and that they wanted to proceed to Miranshah, the center of North Waziristan tribal region to join the militants there and to cross into Afghanistan, officials said.
**1420
End News / IRNA / News Code 862298
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