KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Police in Pakistan questioned an American on Wednesday after U.S. authorities
said an FBI agent on an anti-corruption taskforce had been arrested there, officials said.
The arrest marked the latest incident to trouble relations between Pakistan and the U.S., two uneasy
allies since the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Pakistani police officer Rao Anwaar declined to say whether
the detained American was the FBI agent. He said investigators hadn’t received any written evidence
proving the man worked for the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan.
The American arrived in Karachi on May 1 and was detained Monday when he was about to board a flight for
Islamabad, Anwaar said. He said officials found the man carrying ammunition and three knives, as well as
electronic devices that were being examined.
“We have sent his laptop and other gadgets for forensic examination,” Anwaar said. He declined to comment
further.
A law enforcement official in the U.S. identified the man as an FBI agent and said he was in Pakistan as
part of a multi-agency, anti-corruption program. The official said the agent appears to have made a
mistake and that there’s no indication he was trying to carry bullets aboard the plane. The official
said authorities are hopeful the situation will be resolved soon with the agent’s release.
The official, who did not provide the agent’s name or age, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the
diplomatic sensitivities of the case.
Pakistani television channels aired footage Wednesday of police presenting the American in court Tuesday,
which allowed the investigators to question him for four days. The footage showed the man in handcuffs,
wearing a blue lining shirt while standing in the dock.
Washington needs Pakistan’s help fighting al-Qaida and stabilizing neighboring Afghanistan, as NATO uses
Pakistani roads to supply its troops. However, relations have strained over a series of incidents. CIA
contractor Raymond Davis shot and killed two Pakistani men in Lahore in January 2011. The U.S.
unilaterally killed Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad in May 2011 and American forces
accidentally killed 24 Pakistani troops along the Afghan border the same year. U.S. drones strikes in
the country also have angered Pakistanis.