CHARSADDA, Oct 17: An American national of Pakistani origin arrested earlier this week at a checkpoint near the Mohmand Agency was remanded in police custody for two days on Friday.

Civil judge-cum-judicial magistrate Nasrullah Khan ordered the police to produce suspect Judi Kenan again on Oct 19.

The man is reported to have told the court in Shabqadar tehsil that he was neither carrying a weapon nor did he commit any crime.

According to officials, the 20-year-old man told the judge that he hailed from Pakistan and had visited the country in the past. He was produced in the court under tight security.

SHO of the Saro Kalae police station Qasim Khan had sought one week’s remand, but the judge allowed two days of custody.

Police alleged that Kenan had entered the tribal area without permission. He was arrested on Oct 13 while travelling in a rented car. Police said that Kenan, who claimed that his Pakistani name was Jawad Ali, had been released the following day. However, he was brought to the court on Friday.

Police claimed to have recorded his arrest in the daily diary and sent the case to the district prosecutor for legal opinion.

Sources in the Saro Kalae police station said that initially the man had been allowed to go with the car driver on a personal surety bond, but on the basis of the legal opinion of the district prosecutor an FIR was registered against him.

DPO Waqif Khan told Dawn that Judi Kenan was son of Taj Mohammad who lived in New York and married there.

He said the man was re-arrested by an intelligence agency after he had been released, adding that the agency had used police for producing him before the court and seeking his custody.