Two Hamilton men detained by INS

11/14/01

By ALBERT RABOTEAU
Staff Writer

The two men taken away in handcuffs by FBI agents from a Hamilton apartment complex last month are being detained by the INS at a jail in Kearny and one may soon return to Pakistan, their attorney said yesterday.

The men, Muhammad "Asif" Khan and Tariq Maqsood, both Pakistani citizens, were questioned about anthrax, but are being held because they lack valid visas, said West Windsor immigration attorney Vinaya Saijwani.

Neither Khan nor Maqsood have been charged with involvement in terrorist activity, Saijwani said.

She said Khan was picked up because he is Pakistani and was living in the Greenwood Village Garden Apartments complex, which once housed Mohammad Aslam Pervez.

Pervez, of Jersey City, has been charged with lying about more than $110,000 in money orders written between 1995 and 1996. He also is reportedly being questioned about his roommates -- Mohammed Jaweed Azmath and Ayub Ali Kahn -- who were arrested aboard a train Sept. 12 carrying box cutters, $5,000 and hair dye.

Maqsood overstayed his visa and was unlucky enough to be at Khan's apartment when it was raided Oct. 29, Saijwani said.

U.S. Immigration Court Judge Daniel A. Meisner has cleared Maqsood for release provided he return to Pakistan, Saijwani said.

"He just wants to go back," Saijwani said of Maqsood. "His wife has been calling from Pakistan, weeping."

She said the FBI still needs to clear Maqsood to leave and she hopes it will be done swiftly.

Maqsood and Khan are being held at the Hudson County Correctional Center, she said.

Messages left at the correctional center and for an FBI spokeswoman were not immediately returned.

INS Service Officer Kerry Gill refused to comment on the men's situation.

"At this point I cannot confirm or deny any information pertinent to detention issues," he said.

Khan's wife, Betty Khan, is a Guatemalan who is in the country legally and has not been detained, Saijwani said. A message left at the Khan's apartment on Norman Court was not returned yesterday.

Saijwani refused to comment on whether she is still at the apartment.

The attorney said Khan worked at a gas station in Hamilton, but said she did not know which one.

She said Khan is depressed and his case will probably take longer to resolve than Maqsood's because Khan is less willing to return to Pakistan.

Saijwani said Khan was given a polygraph test and asked about Pervez, but she would neither detail how he answered nor how he fared on the test.

Saijwani said the men were being held on the basis they may provide information useful to authorities investigating the Sept. 11 attacks and anthrax mailings.

She said the climate has led her to recommend to her detained clients that they leave the country voluntarily.

"I ask them whether they wouldn't rather breathe the free air of Pakistan, even if they don't have money, than sit in jail another six or eight months," she said.