American arrested in Pakistan searching for Bin Laden

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/06/15/pakistan.us.detention/?hpt=C1

American arrested searching for Osama bin Laden

By the CNN Wire Staff
cnnAuthor = "By the CNN Wire Staff";


Gary Brooks Faulkner told Pakistani police that he had been looking for Osama bin Laden since 2001.


Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- An American held in Pakistan who said he was looking for Osama bin Laden is "like a bulldog" who wouldn't let go of the idea of finding the fugitive al Qaeda leader, his brother said Tuesday.
"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, brother of Gary Brooks Faulkner, told CNN.
"Osama had made some references to our God, the God of the Bible, in a poor light, and the fact that he was taunting America and getting away with killing thousands of Americans, my brother took that very personally," he said.

Gary Faulkner, 50, is being held in Pakistan after being stopped near the border with Afghanistan's Nuristan province, Pakistani police announced Tuesday. He was carrying a pistol, a sword, night-vision equipment and Christian religious books, said Mumtaz Ahmed, a police chief in the area.

He told police that he had been looking for bin Laden since al Qaeda's September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington and had traveled to the area several times before, Ahmed said. Faulkner said he had no intention of killing bin Laden, but because of the weapons he was carrying, police did not believe him, Ahmed said.

"And I agree with him," Scott Faulkner said. "The fact that he's been over there six times and has not received a scratch tells me that somebody's looking after him."
Scott Faulkner said his brother "could blend in with the local population and go places that our military cannot go."

"We have relationships with the Pakistani government: 'OK. You can go in this region or you can't go in that region,' whereas my brother could go about willy-nilly," he said. "He had a long beard. He looked like Taliban. When he wore his robe, he looked like Taliban. The only way you could tell he was not was when he spoke."
U.S. Embassy Spokesman Richard Snelsire did not confirm that Faulkner was in Pakistani custody, but said the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar did receive notification that an American citizen was detained. Snelsire said they were trying to get more details.

"We're hoping to get consular access to the individual," Snelsire said.
In Washington, State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley said the Pakistanis informed the U.S. government about the arrest, but he couldn't discuss details.

"We want to talk to him, figure out who he is, what brought him to Pakistan, and we'll take it from there," Crowley said.

CNN's Reza Sayah, Samson Desta and Melanie Whitley contributed to this report.

This guy MUST be related to Stevew2 !