January 31, 2003	Friday	Ziqa’ad 27, 1423

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WASHINGTON, Jan 30: US federal agents have arrested 13 Pakistanis from the greater Washington area for allegedly running a $5 million credit card scheme.

Officials on Thursday said that they were also being investigated for possible links to terrorist organizations.

They said that in all, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was looking for 33 suspects some of whom might have fled to Pakistan.

Officials identified a man called Shah Nawaz as the leader of the group and said he might have fled to Pakistan.

“Shah Nawaz is a fugitive and we believe he is currently in Pakistan,” said a spokesperson for the US attorney’s office in the eastern district of Virginia.

“We know that terrorists need to conceal their identities to be able to strike, and we know credit card fraud is one of the ways they do it,” US Attorney Paul J McNulty told Dawn. “But no terrorist link has been established as yet,” he added.

Mr McNulty, said, his department had already issued 25 complaints and arrest warrants as part of the operation. In addition, eight individuals have either been convicted and sentenced or have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

He said: “Most of the individuals, all foreign nationals, are co-conspirators in a loosely organized criminal enterprise, which operates on the east coast, and is primarily involved in credit card, social security, immigration, and mortgage fraud.”

“To date, this enterprise has caused at least $5 million in losses to credit card companies and banks as part of their criminal activities,” said Mr McNulty.

“In addition to executing arrest warrants, federal agents executed search warrants on Wednesday at two businesses located in the eastern district of Virginia, Metro International Travel, Inc., and Super Travel Agency, Inc., which are suspected of being used by conspirators in the enterprise to commit the fraud,” He said.

Proceeds of the scheme had been transferred to overseas banks, including those in Pakistan and Canada, McNulty said.

He informed that on learning about the racket, US authorities formed a task force of seven agencies to catch the suspects. They included the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, US Immigration and Naturalization Service, US Customs Service, Fairfax County Police Department, US Secret Service, US Postal Inspection Service.

United States Assistant Attorneys Steve A. Linick and Stephen M. Campbell and Special Assistant Attorney Spence Pryor were handling the prosecution for the US Attorney’s Office.