Police on Friday arrested a travel agency employee in northwestern Pakistan suspected of supplying fake passports and other travel documents to al-Qaida fugitives. Police seized dozens of stolen British, Afghan and Pakistani passports, fake travel visa stickers and immigration authority stamps in a raid on a travel agency in Peshawar. U.S. agents assisted in the investigation leading to the travel agency, said Gulfat Hussain, who led the raid. The raid came a week after security agents arrested three people and seized 100 blank Pakistan passports in Peshawar.
"Passports! Getcher passports right here! Only fi' dollah!"
"Here, lad! I'll have four!" |
Hussain said agents have also been sent to Pakistan's mountainous tribal regions in connection with the May 10 raid to look for smugglers, who they believe delivered doctored passports to al-Qaida fugitives in Afghanistan.
| Precisely where in Afghanland would be of interest... |
In a separate operation, police in Karachi arrested a Burmese man suspected of belonging to the al-Qaida terrorist network. Abdul Mutallib, 27, was arrested Thursday night on tips from two al-Qaida suspects already in jail. The informants — Mohammed Anwar and Habibullah — were arrested last month in Karachi along with four others, including Waleed Mohammed Bin Attash, a Yemeni national suspected of involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks. Before a brief court appearance Friday, Anwar told The Associated Press he was a driver at a poultry farm used as a warehouse for guns and explosives but that he didn't know why the weaponry was kept there.
| "Duh. Guns? 'Splosives? Whuddya use them fer?" |
Anwar said he and Habibullah had been interrogated regularly since May 3. He said they were forced to wear hoods and were asked questions about suspected al-Qaida leaders, including Attash.
| They weren't hoods. The coppers just pulled their turbans down over their eyes... |
Attash, also the alleged mastermind of the USS Cole bombing off Yemen in 2000 that killed 17 U.S. sailors, allegedly had been planning another attack. When police arrested him April 29, they also seized a truck packed with explosives and an arsenal of weapons and other explosive materials.
| He didn't know what they were going to be used for, either... |
The Burmese suspect allegedly bought weapons for Attash and others, police said. Police said he will appear in court May 19 along the other two al-Qaida suspects. It wasn't known whether Attash remained in Pakistani custody or had been handed over to U.S. authorities. The Yemeni government has also asked for Attash's extradition. |