American citizen Matthew Craig Barrett who was arrested earlier this month after entering Pakistan despite being ‘blacklisted’, was deported from the country early Saturday (today).
Read more: Interior Ministry decides to deport blacklisted US citizen
Barret was deported from Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport amid tight security and is travelling to New York on a Pakistan International Airlines flight PK-7. According to reports, the US national was released from Adiala jail on Friday for deportation. He was then transported to Lahore from Islamabad by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
He was sent to prison on Aug 13 under the Foreigners Act on 14-day judicial remand. And on Thursday a special court of the FIA allowed the authorities to deport him.
Read more: Blacklisted US citizen sent on 14-day judicial remand to Adiala Jail
It was not immediately clear why he was not deported from Islamabad but shifted to Lahore for the purpose.
Barrett, a 33-year-old Alabama native, was deported from Pakistan in 2011 after being detained near a sensitive installation.
He had earlier lived in Pakistan for four years, married a Pakistani woman and had two children.
FIA Inspector Rana Muhammad Akram appeared before the court and presented the original notification of the interior ministry regarding Barrett’s deportation. The court allowed his expulsion following the conclusion of arguments.
Earlier this month, FIA along with Islamabad Police conducted a raid at a guest house and detained Barrett who had been expelled from Pakistan in 2011 on suspicion of spying.
The raid was conducted after it was learned that the US citizen had returned to Pakistan.
Two officials at the Islamabad Airport were also suspended for allowing Barrett to enter the country when his name was on the blacklist.
Read more: Suspects arrested in connection with Quetta Blast: Ch Nisar