Blacklisted US citizen given into FIA custody on three-day remand

Blacklisted US national, Matthew Craing Barrett was given to the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) on Tuesday after a court in Rawalpindi granted his three-day physical remand to the agency.

Barrett was arrested by the FIA and police officials a few days back after a raid was conducted on a guest house in the capital. The US national was arrested because he had been blacklisted and banned from entering Pakistan during his last visit here. However, he still managed to get a valid visa and entry into Pakistan and the circumstances surrounding this discrepancy are being investigated.

Upon being questioned, Barrett said that he had come back to Pakistan to explore the possibility of settling here permanently. His story did not add up as he gave a wrong address on the disembarkation card and he did not even bring his wife, Banosha Khan, to make such an important decision with.

So far a case has been registered against two FIA immigration officials who cleared Barrett for entry into Pakistan. Meanwhile FIA booked Barrett under the Foreigners Act and the Pakistan Customs Act.

Earlier, Barrett was arrested back in May 2011 when he was caught taking pictures of a sensitive location in Islamabad. That arrest had been made just a few days after the US Navy Seals had killed Osama in a raid on a compound in Abbottabad.

His visa duration was cut short and he was asked to leave the country. However, Barrett went into hiding and overstayed his visa duration. Eventually, he was arrested from Islamabad and sent back to the US after being blacklisted here.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=53827

Posted by fatimaarshad on Aug 10 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.