As many as twelve US nationals were detained on Saturday near Benazir Bhutto International Airport for allegedly filming sensitive installations in cantonment area, however, all of them were released later.
The twelve US nationals, including three women, were accused of filming sensitive installations in Rawalpindi Cantonment, close to Rawalpindi District Courts.
Police sources said suspects in three SUVs were filming sensitive installations and a traffic warden deputed at district court traffic interjection signalled them to stop, upon which they fled. The warden forwarded a message through his wireless set and informed high-ups of the situation.
Police and intelligence officials deputed in the area then moved into action and managed to stop the said vehicles close to Benazir Bhutto International Airport.
The “suspects” were taken to the airport for interrogations, where they remained under investigation for four hours. The suspects turned out to be American artists, who were on way back to the US embassy after attending a musical performance at Fatima Jinnah University.
Sources said the detained Americans informed the investigators that they had filmed the area in order to keep a record pf their visit.
The said two senior officials of the US embassy later rushed to the airport and assured the security agencies that the detained people were part of a musical group. The security officials then let the suspects go, but not before destroying the video footage.
Robert Raines, a spokesman of the US embassy, confirmed that a group of Americans musicians were briefly detained. However, he denied that the Americans were filming sensitive buildings. To a query, he said, “One of the performers was accused of taking photographs of sensitive installations.”
He said performer, who took photograph, was not aware of restrictions placed on photography in or around cantonment and had no intention of taking photographs of sensitive government or military installations.