Blacklisted US national tells authorities he ‘wanted to move to Pakistan’

A blacklisted US national by the name of Matthew Craig Barrett is currently being interrogated by the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) and the story he is providing to the officers is not adding up. Barrett arrived in Islamabad at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, and despite being blacklisted by the government, he was given permission to go by a sub-inspector and his son who were on duty at that time.

However, a second check by the FIA showed his records and a team was dispatched to arrest him. Fortunately, Barrett had not gotten very far and he was arrested by authorities.

During his interrogation, Barrett said that after he was granted the visa by the consulate in Houston, he thought that there were no charges against him so he went ahead with his travel plans. He further added that he had come back to Pakistan to explore the possibility of permanently moving here.

Despite this story, there are several loopholes in it, which prompts one to think the real motives behind Barrett’s arrival in Pakistan. First of all, why would he come to Pakistan if he wanted to permanently move here, without his wife Banosha Khan? Furthermore, how did he manage to get a four-year multiple-entry visa to Pakistan, within 24 hours? One also wonders how he was cleared by the immigration authorities when a sub-inspector and his son were on duty. Another suspicious thing which Barrett did was to mention the wrong address on the disembarkation card upon his arrival.

Back in 2011, Barrett was arrested near Islamabad when he was found taking photographs of sensitive installations in the Jhang Bhattar area. When he was arrested, his visa duration was reduced by Barrett went into hiding after his visa expired and was eventually arrested from a house in E-11 and send back to the US, and that is the time he was blacklisted and banned from coming back to Pakistan.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=53820

Posted by fatimaarshad on Aug 9 2016. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.