Pakistani Pleads Not Guilty in Delaware ArmsCase (Was Carrying GPS System Near Salem Nuclear Plant)

Reuters | 10/18/01 | Rita Farrell

[Freedom of Speech Wins]

Thursday October 18 11:54 PM ET

Pakistani Pleads Not Guilty in Delaware Arms Case

By Rita Farrell

WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - A Pakistani man with an expired visa pleaded not guilty in federal court in Delaware on Thursday to illegal possession of firearms, charges for which he has been imprisoned for nearly a month.

His roommate and fellow Pakistani, Syed Hassan, 23, told Reuters that Raza Nasir Khan was arrested on Sept. 25 because of the hijack attacks on New York and Washington two weeks earlier.

``This is because of Raza's skin color and his goatee. He looks more like Arabic people than Pakistani,'' Hassan said.

On Sept. 19, a Delaware Fish and Game ranger became suspicious when Khan asked for maps of the Cedar Swamp Area hunting park to locate deer stands deep in the woods.

The ranger said he called the FBI (news - web sites) because Khan was dark-skinned and was carrying a small Global Positioning System device and because Cedar Swamp was directly across the Delaware River from the Salem Nuclear Power Plant in New Jersey.

``With these facts and with the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon (news - web sites), the (ranger) felt he needed to notify a federal agency,'' Special Agent Veronica Hnat of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said in court papers.

Hnat signed a criminal complaint against Khan days after the FBI and U.S. marshals searched his Wilmington apartment with his consent and said they found four long guns and a handgun.

Kahn, 29, was arrested because it is against the law for illegal immigrants to possess firearms.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Pat Thynge denied Khan bail in his initial appearance before her on Sept 28. On Thursday, Thynge said she would reconsider the detention ruling at a hearing on Oct. 26. If convicted of illegal possession, Khan, who has no criminal record, would probably serve no more than 12 months of a maximum possible sentence of 10 years, his attorney, John Malik, said.

[First_Salute]

"Special Agent Veronica Hnat of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms"

[Cronos]

Pretty ironic ain't it Pakistani arrested.
Who are we supporting here. We've got the wrong allies.
Screw the Pakistanians, they're the ones who created teh TAliban, they're the ones that still supply them with weapons, tehy're the one's who got the Nukes.
We ought to screw them and support the Indians and blow up Pakistani and rid the world of the scum of Paks and Afgahnds.
Waddya say, all together now: We fight with India, we support 'em on the Cashmere issue, we'll blow up Pak and Afghanistan and hit the dang Terrorists right where the money gets in. Choke em, smoke em out! And next we can get the Wahabbi Saudis and appropriate the oil -- the barbarians Muslims would never be able to create any technology to use it in a billion years.

[IceGirl2]

Why not give him 10 years? Don't buy that junk about hunting. Pakistani's don't hunt for food. Give me a break! This guy was up to no good and he should not see the light of day for years.

[Osinski]

"This is because of Raza's skin color and his goatee. He looks more like Arabic people than Pakistani."

Lucky for us.

[snopercod]

Are we sure the guns were his, not his roomates? If so, how did an illegal immigrant buy them - don't you need a drivers license? Have the gun laws not been enforced for the last 9 years?

[angkor]

You mean it is not against the law for illegal immigrants to be illegal immigrants???

It is illegal, but the penalty is deportation, which requires a legal order from DOJ. If you overstay a visa, it's not until day 180 that the another penalty applies, which is the denial of future visas for three to ten years (depending upon how long you overstayed).

Civil (not criminal) penalities kick-in only if a formal DOJ Order To Depart is disobeyed. I think it's $500 per day by law.

At some point it becomes a criminal matter, but that can take a very long time.

[Twodees]

You're right, but we need a declaration of war to establish the military tribunals' jurisdiction over non-citizens. Now why doesn't Congress want to declare war? Hmmmmm.....

[BARGE]

Turn the Islamic dirtballs over to the Delaware Rednecks and their pump shotguns. Goodbye.....

[samtheman]

Haul him in front of a military tribunal, find him guilty of something and shoot him.

Next case.

[RippleFire]

The man had four long guns. I have a gun cabinet full of them. He hunted. I hunt. I even have a GPS.

Are you an illegal alien too?

[FITZ]

Thanks for the ping. Very interesting, even still they refuse to recognize the reason these Middle Easterners are here. Even when they're buying arms to use against the Americans.

[Travis McGee]

Are you serious?

An arab moslem illegal alien with illegal (for him) guns and a GPS near a nuke plant sends up more red flares than an arab who only wants to practice level flight on the simulator.

If we let it slide because he "might be innocently getting ready for hunting season" then we are so stupid we deserve to have a nuke plant blown up.

[Travis McGee]

I am much more concerned about his GPS and proximity to a nuke plant.

[drc43]

Enemy soldier behind the lines...out of uniform. Summary court martial followed by swift execution..

These cases are no longer a matter for the courts.

[1Old Pro]

Kahn, 29, was arrested because it is against the law for illegal immigrants to possess firearms.

oNCE AGAIN PROVING WE HAVE enough laws on the books. Track down illegal immigrnats AND enforce current firearms laws, that should be enough IF the arrests are made.

[Norb2569]

First, extract every bit of information from him.

Then put him to work at the prison's hog farm shoveling hog slop and manure.

My sentiments exactly!!

Norb in Jacksonville

[bluefish]

it is against the law for illegal immigrants to possess firearms

hmmmm... Isn't it against the law to simply be an illegal immigrant, regardless of whether or not you possess a firearm? If not, why are they called "illegal" immigrants. Sheesh!

[Travis McGee]

Enemy soldier behind the lines...out of uniform. Summary court martial followed by swift execution.. These cases are no longer a matter for the courts.

Not until all his information has been extracted. If he knows the name of one other spy or terrorist in the USA, we can break up another cell before another 9-11.

Proper execution: sew him tightly into a fresh wet swine skin and leave him in the sun.

[Victoria Delsoul]

If convicted of illegal possession, Khan, who has no criminal record, would probably serve no more than 12 months of a maximum possible sentence of 10 years, his attorney, John Malik, said.

I guess, illegal immigration doesn't count.

[WhiteyAppleseed]

I still say it is foolish for us to assume he had some nefarious motives in mind. Had he wanted to plot GPS coordinates for the nuke facility, I don't think he'd need to go overland to arrive at them. And what, pray tell, would he use them for? Some terrorist battleship is going to sail off the coast and he will be their spotter? Odds are the case was another example of over-reaction.