5 U.S. men likely to be deported by Pakistan
Last Updated: Friday, December 11, 2009 | 5:54 AM ET
The Associated Press
Five young American Muslims detained over alleged terrorist links in Pakistan are most likely to be deported, a local police chief said Friday.
The men have allegedly told investigators they tried to connect with Islamist militant groups in Pakistan and were intending to cross the border into Afghanistan and fight U.S. troops there.
They were reported missing by their families in the Washington, D.C., area a week ago after one of them left behind a militaristic farewell video saying Muslims must be defended. Pakistani police detained them this week in the town of Sargodha in eastern Pakistan.
Regional police chief Javed Islam said the men had yet to be charged with any crime.
"They are American citizens. I think most probably they would be taken to America, that's what I feel," he told The Associated Press.
U.S. officials, including some from the FBI, have visited the men in custody.
The men used the social networking site Facebook and the internet video site YouTube to try to connect with extremist groups in Pakistan, said S.M. Imran Gardezi, the press minister at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington. When they arrived in Pakistan, they took that effort to the street.
