WASHINGTON — FBI agents have questioned some of the young Americans arrested in Pakistan as U.S. investigators gather evidence that could lead to a conspiracy charge against them, an American official and another person familiar with the case said Friday.
Agents are working to see whether there is enough evidence to charge any of the five Muslim students with conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization, the two people said.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.
Officials in both countries expect the five, who are from the Washington, D.C., area, to be deported back home. But Pakistan might hold them long enough for U.S. prosecutors to prepare charges, and there was no immediate indication how long that might take.
While Pakistani officials have said the men admitted trying to connect with militant groups, an FBI note sent to American lawmakers Thursday evening said the bureau had “no information linking them to terrorist organizations.” That FBI note did not address whether the students attempted to join a terrorist group.
The other possible charge — and one that could be more difficult to bring — would be conspiracy to maim or kill people overseas.
The young men were reported missing by their families more than a week ago after one of them left behind a farewell video showing scenes of war and casualties and saying Muslims must be defended.
Pakistani police detained them this week — along with one of their fathers — in Sargodha, a town in the eastern province of Punjab.
One of the men being held is identified as an Egyptian American named Ramys Zamzam, a dental student at Howard University in Washington.
The others were identified as Waqir Hussain Khan, Aman Hasan Yamer, Ahmad Abdulminni, Umar Farooq and his father, Khalid Farooq. Investigators are trying to establish what role — if any — the father played in the men’s alleged activities, officials said.
Pakistani officials and friends of the family said Friday that Khalid Farooq turned the men in, alarmed that they were determined to fight U.S. troops in Afghanistan, McClatchy Newspapers reported.
