Sunday, May 15, 2011

U. S. Embassy Employee Briefly Arrested Outside Islamabad, Pakistan

It's not another Raymond Davis case. No one died, and this time our guy's immunity papers seem to have been in order.

The Express Tribune has this report today of a US diplomat arrested outside Rawalpindi:

A US diplomat, arrested by security agencies on the outskirts of Rawalpindi on Saturday for suspicious behavior, was later released by the officials on the request of the interior ministry.

The American diplomat, purportedly called Matthew Bennett, was found near Fateh Jang by ISI and MI personnel who had been watching him for a while.

He was found taking photographs in an area which, according to officials and locals, served as a secret passage for the transportation of sensitive materials to the Khan Research Laboratories at Kahuta [i.e., Pakistan's nuclear weapons research facility].

The area also serves as the transit route and the entry and gathering point for Nato supplies to Afghanistan.

The diplomat was taken to an unidentified location for further investigations by the security personnel.

Officials told The Express Tribune that they recovered advanced gadgets from him, including night-vision goggles, laptop, transmitter and a digital camera. He was later released after officials from interior ministry brought the required documents with them.

2 comments:

jc said...

The story may have appeared in the International Herald Tribune, but the link you've provided is for a story printed in the Express Tribune - which is a Pakistani English language newspaper with a relationship to the IHT (as well as to other media outlets in Pakistan).

TSB said...

You're right, thanks. Well, that's what happens when you post stuff when you're sleepy.