A U.S. embassy employee was released after being held for questioning in Pakistain on Tuesday when airport security officials discovered bullets in his luggage, police said.The American was about to fly from the northwestern city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar to the capital Islamabad when he was taken into police custody, said Tahir Ayub, a senior police superintendent.
He was released after four hours when officials from the U.S. consulate in Peshawar produced documents to show the man worked at the consulate.
"He's been released to the consulate," a U.S. official in Islamabad said. "He's at the consulate now."
The American is an embassy employee usually based in Islamabad but was temporarily assigned to the Peshawar consulate, the official said.
Police officers had earlier said they would hold the man until his identity had been verified by the foreign office in Islamabad and a U.S. official in the capital had said the embassy was looking into the details of the reports.
"He has diplomatic status," the official said. "We're in contact with Pak authorities on the details on the case."
Ayub said a pistol and 12 magazine rounds had been recovered from the man's luggage, while another police officer said security officials had only found bullets.