Bin Laden hunter was ‘on mission from God’

AN American construction worker detained in Pakistan while reportedly on a solo mission to kill Osama bin Laden claimed yesterday that he was obeying an order from God to avenge the September 11 attacks, said Pakistani officials.

Gary Brooks Faulkner said God revealed the order in one of his dreams, prompting him to travel to Pakistan in search of al-Qaida’s leader, said two security officials.

bin Laden was 50-year-old Faulkner’s passion, his brother Scott Faulkner said. A devout Christian with a prison record, Faulkner has been to Pakistan at least six times, learned some of the local language, and even grew a long beard to blend in.

“Our military has not been able to track Osama down yet. It’s been 10 years,” Scott Faulkner told reporters in Denver. “It’s easier as a civilian, dressed in the local dress, to infiltrate the inside, the local people, gain their confidence and get information and intel that you couldn’t get as an American soldier, Navy SEAL, whoever you might be.”

Gary Faulkner, of Greeley, Colorado, arrived on June 3 in the town of Bumburate. He was assigned a police guard, as is common for foreigners visiting remote parts of Pakistan. When he checked out of a hotel without informing the guard, officers began looking for him, senior police official Mumtaz Ahmad Khan said.

Faulkner was found late on Sunday in a forest.

“We initially laughed when he told us that he wanted to kill Osama bin Laden,” Khan said. But when officers found weapons, including a 40-inch sword and a pistol as well as night-vision equipment, “our suspicion grew”.

He said Faulkner was trying to cross into the nearby Afghan region of Nuristan, one of several rumoured hiding places for bin Laden along the rugged Afghan-Pakistan border.

Faulkner’s sister, Deanna M Faulkner of Grand Junction, Colorado, said her brother suffers from kidney disease that has left him with only 9% kidney function. “I’m worried about him. I’m worried that in Pakistan they won’t give him his dialysis and if he doesn’t get it, he’s in serious trouble,” she said.

A Pakistani doctor has examined Faulkner and determined his current condition is not life-threatening, the Pakistani security officials said yesterday.

US Embassy spokesman Rick Snelsire said American officials were seeking consular access to a US citizen in Pakistani custody and that once given, they could help arrange for medical care.