WASHINGTON, 7 August 2003 — US authorities plan to file terrorism charges against a detained Pakistani with ties to the shipping industry and suspected of having connections to Al-Qaeda as well, The Washington Post reported yesterday.
Uzair Paracha, 23, has been secretly held since his arrest on March 31 in the offices of a clothing import firm in New York owned by his father, said the newspaper, citing government sources.
Paracha’s father has also been arrested by Pakistani authorities. Authorities said they suspect the business was a cover to smuggle weapons or Al-Qaeda agents into the United States. According to the Post, the US government learned of Paracha through Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a senior Al-Qaeda operative who was arrested in March in Pakistan.
Possible charges against Paracha include providing material support to terrorists, helping to obtain weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy.
In Karachi, the Uzair’s mother said she suspects her missing husband is in the hands of US intelligence agencies. Farhat Paracha expressed her suspicion to reporters in Karachi, after CNN reported Uzair could be charged with terrorism for his alleged links with Al-Qaeda. The FBI alleges Uzair was helping Al-Qaeda operatives to gain entry into the US and to obtain chemical weapons, the reports said.
Farhat said her businessman husband, Saifullah Paracha, went missing in late June after he embarked on a journey to Bangkok, Thailand at the invitation of an American business partner, Charlse Anteby.
“I feel the business meeting was merely a bluff to execute a plan to arrest my husband either in Karachi or Bangkok,” she said, adding Pakistani intelligence agencies must have helped in the arrest.
