U.S. arrested Muslim immigrants before election

11/7/2004 8:02:00 AM GMT

Source: The Daily Times

U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement Chief Michael Garcia said on Saturday that at least 237 Muslim immigrants, mostly of Pakistani origin, were arrested before the U.S. presidential elections started.

Garcia said that about 237 Muslim immigrants were arrested last month and questioned for having links to terror groups, however, none of them were found having any connection to terrorism or any terror suspects, he added.

Among the immigrants, Garcia added, was a 23-year-old Pakistani oil tanker driver who had entered the United States through Mexico after he issued false statements to get legal status to stay in the country.

However, the immigration chief still expects terror attack would target the U.S., especially since the presidential swearing in ceremony and the Super Bowl were yet to take place.

In another case, a New York judge ordered 39-year-old Syrian-American doctor Hasan Faraj, who migrated from Bosnia to the U.S. nearly 10 years ago to be put under house arrest.

Faraj was accused of helping Al Qaeda suspect Amir Abdur Razzaq, a close aide to Osama Bin Laden.

The prosecution said that the FBI found blueprints of Washington DC overpasses at his home.

Dr. Faraj strongly denied having any links to terrorism, and said that the blueprints found belonged to his brother, a civil engineering lecturer at a Washington university.