Alleged bin Laden hunter released by Pakistan

(News Today) - An American man detained last week in Pakistan while on a hunt for Osama bin Laden was on his way back to the United States Tuesday with no charges filed, a source close to Gary Faulkner's family told CNN.

Faulkner, 50, had been held by Pakistani authorities since June 13.

Faulkner, who suffers from kidney disease, was given dialysis in a Pakistani military hospital in Islamabad and is in good condition, the source said.

Pakistani police said that Faulkner was carrying a pistol, a sword, night-vision equipment and Christian books when he was stopped near the border with Afghanistan's Nuristan province. They said he told them that he had been looking for bin Laden since al Qaeda's September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

His brother, Dr. Scott Faulkner, reported last week after discussions with U.S. officials that Gary Faulkner had been moved to Islamabad by the Pakistani government.

Gary Faulkner is a California-born independent contractor who has lived in Colorado for more than 40 years, his brother said. He added that Faulkner felt the U.S. government was not doing enough to bring bin Laden to justice, and was not afraid to act himself.

The U.S. State Department is offering a reward of up to $25 million in return for information leading to bin Laden's arrest.

A police chief in northern Pakistan, Mumtaz Ahmed, said Faulkner asserted he had no intention of killing bin Laden, but because of the weapons he was carrying, the police chief did not believe him.

Faulkner underwent questioning by Pakistani authorities and a medical exam. A Pakistani doctor determined he has been undergoing dialysis every 20 days and has psychological problems, according to a senior Pakistani intelligence official. The official was not identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

But his brother disputed that Gary Faulkner has mental problems. "My brother is not crazy. He is highly intelligent and loves his country, and he has not forgotten what Osama has done to this country," Scott Faulkner told CNN.

Colorado Bureau of Investigation records show that Gary Faulkner has a lengthy criminal record of minor offenses that date to the early 1980s. He served jail time on three separate occasions for various charges, including second-degree burglary.

Source : CNN

Posted in: