FBI seeks 5 men in U.S. illegally
Sunday, December 29, 2002 Posted: 5:46 PM EST (2246 GMT)
The FBI said Sunday it wants the public's help in finding five men it said entered the United States illegally within the past week.
An administration official said the names were developed in conjunction with a terrorism investigation, but would not characterize the level of concern surrounding the men.
Although the FBI said it has no specific information that the individuals are connected to terrorist activities, the agency said it wants to locate and question the men "based upon information developed in the course of ongoing investigations."
Some of the investigations were domestic and some were overseas. The names of the five men came up repeatedly in those investigations, according to an FBI source.
The FBI said it believes the men have information that may shed more light on the security situation facing the United States.
The FBI identified the five men as Abid Noraiz Ali, 25; Iftikhar Khozmai Ali, 21; Mustafa Khan Owasi, 33; Adil Pervez, 19; Akbar Jamal, 28. But the bureau cautioned the men's names and ages may be false.
It is possible the men came into the United States from Canada, the administration official said. It's possible the men entered the United States on or around December 24, the FBI said.
The FBI said it has been working with homeland security agencies -- including the Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Transportation Security Administration -- to locate the men.
The FBI has also given information about the men, including their pictures, to 18,000 local and state law enforcement agencies.
Anyone with any information about the group is asked to contact their nearest FBI office. Photographs of the individuals can be found on the FBI's Web site at www.fbi.gov.
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