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CNN Live At Daybreak
Jeweler Says Photo Wrongly on FBI Site
Aired January 02, 2003 - 05:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Overseas now, it's a nightmare for a 33-year-old jeweler from Lahore, Pakistan. The man says the FBI mistakenly placed his photo on its Web site as one of the five men who illegally entered the U.S.
As CNN's Jeanne Meserve reports, one official concedes the jeweler might be right.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is this man sought by the FBI illegally in the United States or is he, in fact, this man, a jeweler still at home in Pakistan, photographed by the Associated Press?
The photo on the FBI Web site is captioned with Mustafa Khan Owasi's name. From the beginning, the FBI said the name might be falsified, but could the photo, too? Mohammed Asghar, a jeweler in Lahore, says the picture on the FBI Web site is of him, and the resemblance is striking.
Asghar acknowledges to the Associated Press having once used forged documents and he suggests the forgers might have recycled his picture. The FBI says it will interview Asghar as soon as possible to determine whose picture is on its Web site. One official says it is not inconceivable that the FBI's photo is bogus. The FBI has not said where or how it obtained the picture.
DAVID HARRIS, FORMER CANADIAN INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: To Canadian and American authorities, this changes a lot and it changes nothing at the same time, because we know that when we're in the realm of illicit transportation, smuggling, we're dealing with a dark miasma, often of confusion, some of it by design.
MESERVE: As the possible photo fraud is checked out, administration officials tell CNN all five of the men for whom the FBI is searching are believed to have traveled from Pakistan to Britain and then on to Canada and the U.S.
DANIEL BENJAMIN, TERRORISM EXPERT: It's of crossing points between Maine and the State of Washington. But there's also a lot of unpatrolled territory. So that adds to the difficulty of controlling that perimeter.
MESERVE: Indeed, administration sources say the prevalent U.S. government theory is that the men were smuggled into the U.S. because a check of records at U.S.-Canadian border crossings has turned up no trace of them and because their names were gleaned from the interrogation of a smuggler of illegal aliens in Canada.
(on camera): A law enforcement source says raids were conducted in and around New York City and New Haven, Connecticut Monday night. Authorities believe that individuals at those locations might have information about the five men they are seeking. A number of Pakistani and Middle Eastern men were taken in for questioning, but all were released, and the five men remain at large.
Jean Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Let's get more on this story of possible mistaken identity.
Joining us via video phone is our Islamabad bureau chief, Ash-Har Quraishi -- hi, Ash-Har.
ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.
Well, Mohammed Asghar says he was surprised when he opened up a local newspaper here in Pakistan to find his picture listed amongst those with the other four that the FBI is looking for questioning. Now, he maintains that this is, indeed, his picture. He says that it matches him even to the mole on his left cheek.
Now, Asghar, who says that the name did not match, the name that was listed by the FBI was Mustafa Khan Owasi. He says he does not know who that was and how his picture may have gotten into the FBI's hands, if, in fact, this is the same picture of the same guy.
Now, Asghar says that he's a jeweler in Lahore, he's the father of three, and that he's never traveled to the United States. He did try to travel out of Pakistan earlier this year, in late November. He did use false documents. He had a U.K. passport made up. He says that was so that he would be able to get a job in London when he got there. But he was caught in Abu Dhabi when he was, by authorities there, who deported him here to Pakistan.
Now, he says he is afraid of the questioning, but he knows that the FBI is interested in trying to find out whether or not he is the person that they are looking for, if this is a case of mistaken identity or if this is something that happened within the realm of the forgeries, because he had dealt with forgery, with the people who were setting him up with this passport, as well as the possible identities of these four, five men that have believed to be entered into the United States on the 24th of December -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Now, Ash-Har, after he saw his own photograph in the newspaper, and apparently that's how he was informed, did he go to authorities and after that was he interviewed in any capacity?
QURAISHI: Well, now, you have to understand, what he did was he was first surprised. He didn't believe that this was his picture in the newspaper at first. But then he looked at it closely and said this is probably me, and that he wanted to know why the FBI may be looking for him. And then at that point he contacted local media. The Associated Press also spoke with him on Tuesday, on Wednesday, rather, and he says that's how this came to light.
Now, right now we do understand that the FBI is interested in questioning him and trying to clarify whether or not he is the man that they are looking for. At this point he says he is in that picture -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Ash-Har, thank you very much from Islamabad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 2, 2003 - 05:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Overseas now, it's a nightmare for a 33-year-old jeweler from Lahore, Pakistan. The man says the FBI mistakenly placed his photo on its Web site as one of the five men who illegally entered the U.S.
As CNN's Jeanne Meserve reports, one official concedes the jeweler might be right.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is this man sought by the FBI illegally in the United States or is he, in fact, this man, a jeweler still at home in Pakistan, photographed by the Associated Press?
The photo on the FBI Web site is captioned with Mustafa Khan Owasi's name. From the beginning, the FBI said the name might be falsified, but could the photo, too? Mohammed Asghar, a jeweler in Lahore, says the picture on the FBI Web site is of him, and the resemblance is striking.
Asghar acknowledges to the Associated Press having once used forged documents and he suggests the forgers might have recycled his picture. The FBI says it will interview Asghar as soon as possible to determine whose picture is on its Web site. One official says it is not inconceivable that the FBI's photo is bogus. The FBI has not said where or how it obtained the picture.
DAVID HARRIS, FORMER CANADIAN INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: To Canadian and American authorities, this changes a lot and it changes nothing at the same time, because we know that when we're in the realm of illicit transportation, smuggling, we're dealing with a dark miasma, often of confusion, some of it by design.
MESERVE: As the possible photo fraud is checked out, administration officials tell CNN all five of the men for whom the FBI is searching are believed to have traveled from Pakistan to Britain and then on to Canada and the U.S.
DANIEL BENJAMIN, TERRORISM EXPERT: It's of crossing points between Maine and the State of Washington. But there's also a lot of unpatrolled territory. So that adds to the difficulty of controlling that perimeter.
MESERVE: Indeed, administration sources say the prevalent U.S. government theory is that the men were smuggled into the U.S. because a check of records at U.S.-Canadian border crossings has turned up no trace of them and because their names were gleaned from the interrogation of a smuggler of illegal aliens in Canada.
(on camera): A law enforcement source says raids were conducted in and around New York City and New Haven, Connecticut Monday night. Authorities believe that individuals at those locations might have information about the five men they are seeking. A number of Pakistani and Middle Eastern men were taken in for questioning, but all were released, and the five men remain at large.
Jean Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Let's get more on this story of possible mistaken identity.
Joining us via video phone is our Islamabad bureau chief, Ash-Har Quraishi -- hi, Ash-Har.
ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.
Well, Mohammed Asghar says he was surprised when he opened up a local newspaper here in Pakistan to find his picture listed amongst those with the other four that the FBI is looking for questioning. Now, he maintains that this is, indeed, his picture. He says that it matches him even to the mole on his left cheek.
Now, Asghar, who says that the name did not match, the name that was listed by the FBI was Mustafa Khan Owasi. He says he does not know who that was and how his picture may have gotten into the FBI's hands, if, in fact, this is the same picture of the same guy.
Now, Asghar says that he's a jeweler in Lahore, he's the father of three, and that he's never traveled to the United States. He did try to travel out of Pakistan earlier this year, in late November. He did use false documents. He had a U.K. passport made up. He says that was so that he would be able to get a job in London when he got there. But he was caught in Abu Dhabi when he was, by authorities there, who deported him here to Pakistan.
Now, he says he is afraid of the questioning, but he knows that the FBI is interested in trying to find out whether or not he is the person that they are looking for, if this is a case of mistaken identity or if this is something that happened within the realm of the forgeries, because he had dealt with forgery, with the people who were setting him up with this passport, as well as the possible identities of these four, five men that have believed to be entered into the United States on the 24th of December -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Now, Ash-Har, after he saw his own photograph in the newspaper, and apparently that's how he was informed, did he go to authorities and after that was he interviewed in any capacity?
QURAISHI: Well, now, you have to understand, what he did was he was first surprised. He didn't believe that this was his picture in the newspaper at first. But then he looked at it closely and said this is probably me, and that he wanted to know why the FBI may be looking for him. And then at that point he contacted local media. The Associated Press also spoke with him on Tuesday, on Wednesday, rather, and he says that's how this came to light.
Now, right now we do understand that the FBI is interested in questioning him and trying to clarify whether or not he is the man that they are looking for. At this point he says he is in that picture -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Ash-Har, thank you very much from Islamabad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
