washington - -- five young students who recently vanished from
the washington area have been arrested in pakistan, authorities
confirmed wednesday, raising fears that they are part of a recent
wave of u.s.-based muslims traveling to south asia and other
extremist hot spots to engage in terrorist activities.
authorities did not release
tamania ugg boots
the names of those arrested but said they were all male u.s.
citizens around the age of 20. one of them left behind a video that
showed american casualties. in the video he stated that muslims
needed to stand up and fight to defend their fellow muslims,
according to several sources familiar with the
cardy ugg boots uk
case. in recent months, authorities have arrested or charged nearly
a dozen other americans or u.s.-based foreign nationals in
connection with their alleged efforts to either go to pakistan or
somalia for terrorist training or to recruit and finance the
efforts of others to do so. officials have portrayed it as a trend
that has prompted the fbi, the department of homeland security and
other agencies to go on heightened alert.in this case, the families
of the young men went to the council on american-islamic relations,
a washington-based muslim civil rights and advocacy group, within
days of their sudden disappearance. together, the families and cair
"immediately determined that the fbi had to be
elsey boots
brought into the situation," said the organization's spokesman,
ibrahim hooper. "obviously the circumstances were suspicious enough
that we felt it was a matter for law enforcement."the fbi and
justice department confirmed the arrests but said they could
provide only the broad outlines of the case because of the ongoing
investigation
ugg boots 5825 by
u.s. and pakistani officials. one senior fbi official said the
video was still being analyzed for content and clues about the
men's motives for their trip."we are working with pakistan
authorities to determine their identities and the nature of their
business there, if indeed these are the students who had gone
missing," said supervisory special agent katherine schweit of the
fbi's washington field office, which is handling the case.a
washington-based pakistani official said police arrested the men
dec. 7 in the town of sargodha in the punjab region, which is a
known hotbed of militant activity. nadeem kiani, a spokesman for
the pakistani embassy who has been briefed on the investigation,
cheap ugg
boots said one of the men is a pakistani-american,
another is yemeni-american, a third is of egyptian origin and that
he had no information on the other two. he said the men flew into
karachi's international airport nov. 30, then traveled to lahore on
dec. 5 and then 100 miles further to sargodha sometime before their
arrest."while the initial investigation is ongoing, there are many
questions. who they are, what are their nationalities, what was the
purpose of their visit to karachi and sargodha and what were their
intentions," kiani said. for now, he added, the men have not been
charged with any crime and can be held for at least a week while
being questioned
ugg classic short
. the arrests occurred in the home of an uncle of the
pakistani-american student, according to kiani. but he said he
could not comment on reports by a pakistani newspaper that the home
was owned by a militant affiliated with jaish-i-mohammed, a
jihadist group that the united states has formally designated
ugg bailey
button as a terrorist organization because it has
been implicated in numerous attacks on india. "we cannot say
anything about their connections" because the investigation is
still in its early stages, kiani said of the men. but, he added,
"jaish-i-mohammed is an organization banned in pakistan and no one
is going to put a nameplate in front of their house from that
organization." hooper said the families are anguished, wondering
why the men suddenly left washington for a part of pakistan known
for hosting militant organizations. "we just don't know at this
point," he said.nihad awad, cair executive director, said the video
was "like a farewell," according to the associated press. "but just
hearing and seeing videos similar on the internet, it just made me
uncomfortable," awad said. jmeyer@tribune.comunexpected, arrested
nadeem kiani of pakistan's u.s. embassy said the men were arrested
because they had raised suspicions, especially in light of
pakistan's heightened
uggs security
posture due to militant attacks. "if a person is in a certain area
where he does not have apparently any business there, he can be
arrested and investigated," kiani said.copyright ? 2009, chicago
tribune