Pakistan Hands Over Man in Terror Probe

An Arab man believed to be a student of microbiology at Karachi University was detained by Pakistani authorities and handed over to the United States last week under highly secretive circumstances, Pakistani military sources said Saturday.

The man, who authorities confirmed was named Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed, was detained and deported to the U.S. in connection with America’s terrorism investigation.

“This is not unusual. Over the last six months, many people have been deported if they had false documents or suspect links with terrorist organizations in African and Middle Eastern countries,” a military intelligence source said.

Terrorist organizations in Africa are suspected of being connected to the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Kenya and perhaps the bombing of the U.S. guided missile destroyer Cole in Yemen. Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda organization is suspected of carrying out the embassy bombings.

The military sources added that there would be a broad effort in the coming weeks to extradite or expel all illegal foreigners from Pakistan who had traveled to countries where terrorist organizations are known to be operating. “While the list of these people runs into the hundreds, whoever is caught will be expelled,” the military intelligence source said.

Mohammed was handed over to the United States under cover of night. The transfer took place about 1 a.m. Tuesday and involved masked U.S. officers, according to witnesses at the Karachi airport.

The plane was parked in a dark and isolated area of the terminal, according to witnesses, and military sources confirmed that special arrangements were made for the man’s deportation.

The plane arrived from Amman, Jordan, and headed back there after picking up the detainee. A private company was used to service the U.S. aircraft rather than national airport authorities.

The deportation was one of two. The other was of a Jordanian, Zaid Safarani, believed to be on a U.S. watch list. It was not clear if he was deported at the same time as Mohammed.

The Yemeni man is one of three scientists recently reported to have been detained. The other two are retired nuclear scientists, Bashiruddin Mehmood and Abdul Majeed. Mehmood has had a distinguished scientific career in Pakistan’s nuclear program.

The deported man was a student of Yemeni origin who went to Karachi in 1993 and was a student there, according to local reporters. Karachi is a large city on the Arabian sea in southern Pakistan.

He stopped showing up for classes in early October. Shortly before he disappeared, the Interior Ministry requested all information about him from the university.