NEW YORK, Aug 10: An FBI agent told an immigration judge on Tuesday that a Pakistani Imam planned to set up a religious school in Lodi where recruits could be trained to kill Americans, the New York Times said in a report.

The agent, Gary Schaaf, made the accusation at a bail hearing for the cleric, Shabbir Ahmed, 39, who was arrested in June and charged with overstaying his visa while serving at a mosque in Lodi in the Central Valley about 85 miles northeast of San Francisco.

After a hearing of nearly four hours, the judge, Anthony Murry, ruled that Mr Ahmed was a danger to the community and a flight risk. He denied him bail and ordered the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to keep him in custody, the newspaper said.

Mr Ahmed, who has not been charged with terrorism activity, is one of five men being held in connection with a federal investigation that the authorities say ties him and perhaps the others to Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Mr Ahmed’s lawyer, Saad Ahmad, said after the hearing that his client was neither a terrorist nor had ties to any terrorist groups, the report said.