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| Wife and Children of Pakistani Razor-Blade Smuggler Might Be Deported |
| 2004-04-13 |
| From an article in May 2003 ... A former computer programmer with the civilian-aviation authority of Pakistan, [Fazal] Karim, 37, lived with his wife and three young children in Houston, where he ran three cellphone stores. Prosecutors say he returned to Texas from a four-week trip to Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates on March 5 and was waiting at D/FW [Dallas/Fort Worth] Airport for his connecting flight to Houston when security screeners discovered the razor blades. Government agents and prosecutors said Karim gave contradictory statements about why he was traveling with the razor blades .... Federal officials say that Karim came to the attention of security screeners at D/FW because of his suspicious behavior and that lying to FBI agents and immigration officials, not his ethnicity or religious background, ultimately led to his arrest. Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Schattman said the security screeners noticed that Karim appeared to dissociate himself from his carry-on bag. After he had placed it on the conveyor belt leading to an X-ray machine, Karim did not walk through the adjacent magnetometer but selected one farther away. Not only were the razor blades artfully concealed within the belt, but the screener also noticed that Karim did not have a razor in his luggage, Schattman said. .... The Transportation Security Administration screeners initially confiscated the razor blades and let Karim proceed to the gate. However, after discussing Karim’s behavior, they called in airport police and FBI agents, the prosecutor said. When FBI agents questioned Karim about the razor blades, he offered three contradictory explanations, Schattman said. First, Karim told FBI agents that he used the razor blades to shave the bottom of his full beard. Then he said they were for a friend in Houston named Mahmoud. Finally, he said he did not know the razor blades were in his bag. .... In addition, immigration inspectors discovered that Karim’s claim that he was a tourist visiting friends in Houston for a couple of weeks was a lie. Immigration authorities found out that Karim, a Pakistani national with Canadian citizenship, had lived in Houston for three years and did not have a residence in another country. He had a one-way, $3,069 ticket from Karachi, Pakistan, to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to Paris to D/FW and to Houston. .... Karim’s youngest child was born in the United States. His wife and the two elder children might face deportation, Brown said. Figure out a way to deport the youngest brat too. |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #2 Then he said they were for a friend in Houston named Mahmoud. LOL!! Indent the above quote and highlight it in yellow and you have a Fred humor comment!!! |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-04-13 11:04:30 PM |
| #1 From another article, in July 2003 Karim says he and his wife applied for an E-2 investor visa on Jan. 22 [2003], less than two weeks before his pilgrimage [to Mecca, Saudi Arabia], believing that this was enough to adjust their status in the United States. His wife's immigration status is also in question, officials said. On the application form, he is listed as president and his wife, Asia Karim, as vice president of his cellphone business, Wintel Wireless. He wrote that he invested $145,000 in the business. He gave his Houston address and a second address in Edmonton, Alberta. Court documents show that Karim obtained a Texas sales and use tax permit for his business in March 2001. E-visas are nonimmigrant visas typically issued for two years. Foreign nationals have to apply for e-visas abroad, and they are issued at a U.S. embassy or consulate, said Patricia Mancha, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in Dallas. "You can't apply for it from here; it won't protect your status in this country if you're here illegally," Mancha said. "And lying to an immigration officer is a federal offense." |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-04-13 10:00:41 PM |