- KARACHI - Pakistani authorities
handed over a 'suspected foreigner' to the US authorities in a mysterious
way in the early hours of Tuesday and there are strong suspicions that
he was an Arab student of the Karachi University, with connections to some
infamous wanted organisation. A Falcon aircraft owned by the US air force
landed at Karachi airport at around 1 am and was parked in a remote, dark
and isolated area at the old terminal, a source at the Karachi airport
disclosed told The News.
The aircraft having registration numbers N-379 P arrived from Amman and
departed at 2.40 am for the same destination, he said. "I cannot tell
you about the nationality and identification of the person handed over
to the US men. The entire operation was so mysterious that all persons
involved in the operation, including US troops, were wearing masks,"
he said. A masked US trooper was also making a video film of the entire
operation.
A private service company at the Karachi airport, Chemic Aviation, provided
the airport services to the US aircraft. The 'wanted person' handed over
to the US forces was not a Pakistani national as the man was addressed
as a deportee. No one in the Civil Aviation Authority and Airport Security
Force knew the details of the operation. Everything was kept in secret
and operated by an agency, sources said.
It is the first time that Pakistani authorities have handed over any 'wanted
person' to the US authorities at Karachi airport. There was some speculation
that the person extradited may have been one of the Arabs arrested recently
at Chaman at the Pak-Afghan border. But sources said there was no point
in bringing him over to Karachi and to send him through Karachi Airport.
The most likely possibility is that an Arab student of Microbiology Department
of Karachi University, who has been missing since the start of October,
could be the man deported. Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammad belonged to Taiz,
a city of Yemen. He came to Karachi in 1993 from Sana'a. Just before he
went missing, Interior Ministry had asked the University administration
to send all the information about him. His connections with any terrorist
organisation or if and why he was deported, could not be confirmed from
official sources.
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- http://jang.com.pk/thenews/oct2001-daily/26-10-2001/main/main2.htm
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