Armed American hunting bin Laden arrested

PAKISTAN detained a middle-aged American armed with a dagger, a pistol and night vision goggles for allegedly trying to sneak into Afghanistan to hunt and kill al-Qaida head Osama bin Laden, police said yesterday.

California construction worker Gary Faulkner, 52, was caught in the Brumboret Valley near the border of Afghanistan’s Nuristan province and was being questioned, Chitral police Chief Jaffer Khan said.

“He was roaming in the security zone in a suspicious manner. He had a dagger and night vision goggles with him. He is being investigated,” Khan said.

Mumtaz Ahmed, a senior police investigator, said Faulkner was also carrying a pistol and was hunting bin Laden because he suffered personal losses in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

An intelligence official in Chitral, who asked not to be identified, said Faulkner shouted “Don’t come closer to me or I’ll open fire,” when approached.

US embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire confirmed that a US citizen had been arrested and the embassy was seeking access to him.

The daily Dawn newspaper said Faulkner acknowledged to police that he wanted to “decapitate Osama bin Laden”.

If confirmed, this would mark one of the first instances of an American entering Pakistan and Afghanistan on his own to fight against al-Qaida and other militants.

The US has offered a bounty of $25 million (€20.28m) for the world’s most-wanted man. Faulkner was also carrying with him religious literature on Christianity, Khan said.

Police said the American – who suffers from kidney problems and high blood pressure – arrived as a tourist in the district of Chitral, checked into a hotel and was given the customary security escort, before he vanished.

“On Sunday night, our security guard noticed that Gary had disappeared. A search operation was launched and we found him 14 kilometres (nine miles) short of the Pakistan-Afghan border. He was trying to enter Nuristan,” said Khan.

“He said 9/11 caused colossal losses to the US, therefore he wanted to locate Osama bin Laden and his friends.

“We presume he came here with an intention to kill them, though Gary did not say anything of the sort,” said Khan, who described the suspect as of sound mind.

Intelligence on his whereabouts is vague, but the perceived wisdom is that he is out of reach in mountains on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

The enormous rewards offered for bin Laden and other senior Al-Qaeda aides have attracted bounty hunters to the region, but Faulkner was seemingly the first alleged hunter detained in Pakistan.

Police said Faulkner was in Chitral for 10 days before he vanished, staying in the scenic Bomborat valley with its crisp mountain air and thick forest.

“Gary said he bought his pistol locally and the rest of the equipment from California, but there was no entry for this equipment on his travel documents. He said he was going to Nuristan,” said Chitral police Chief Jaffer Khan.