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| 11 August 2004 | Wednesday | 24 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425 |
'Pakistani held in US has videos'
MIAMI, Aug 10: A Pakistani man arrested in North Carolina had videotapes of bank buildings in Charlotte and of buildings in other major cities such as Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and New Orleans, US justice officials said on Tuesday.
Kamran Akhtar, a resident of Elmhurst, New York, was stopped and questioned on July 20 while videotaping a downtown area of Charlotte, according to the US Attorney's office for the western district of North Carolina.
It added that other videotapes Akhtar had in his possession showed buildings in other US cities. Investigators claimed that the tapes also showed a dam in Texas and public transportation systems in Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and New Orleans.
The North Carolina Joint Terrorism Task Force was leading an investigation into the case, the office said. Ten days ago, the United States heightened its terror threat alert to the second highest-level for financial buildings in Washington, New York and Newark, New Jersey after intelligence that Al Qaeda may have been surveyed the buildings as part of plans to attack.
A criminal complaint charged Akhtar him with violating federal immigration and naturalization laws, the US Attorney's office said. According to the complaint, Akhtar, who has been in custody since July 20, said he was in the country with a green card, or alien residency card, but later admitted he did not have one. -Reuters
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