WASHINGTON, March 26: The US Department of Justice launched an investigation into the disappearance of four Pakistani sailors erroneously issued temporary visas by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), judicial authorities said on Monday.

Local and federal authorities have set up a dragnet in search of the four men who arrived aboard a cargo ship, said a Justice Department spokesman.

US Attorney General John Ashcroft called the case “maddening”, adding that he was “outraged” that the INS had failed to track the foursome.

“I believe that these visas were granted in a way which violated the regulations, that appropriate precautions were not taken,” Ashcroft said.

According to Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, President George W. Bush was “infuriated”.

A Maltese-flagged, Russian-owned cargo ship called on the port of Norfolk, Virginia, on March 15. An INS officer granted the members of the 27-man crew, 19 of them Pakistan nationals, a special exemption visa permitting them to disembark on US territory.

Alarm bells went off on March 17, two days after shore leave was granted, when four of the Pakistanis missed the boarding call.

The INS officer granted the visas without the required approval of his supervisor. And, because an official entered the incorrect date of birth for one of the men, the computer failed to show that several years ago he had violated immigration conditions during a stay in Chicago.

The four fugitives were identified as Ahmad Salman, Thulan Qadar, Mohammad Nazir and Adnan Ahmad.

Law enforcement agencies went into overdrive when a member of Congress alleged — erroneously as it turned out — that the name of one of the missing was mentioned on a federal terrorist watch list.—AFP