US seeks access to American out to get Osama

Peshawar: The US embassy has formally sought access to an American construction worker arrested by the security forces in northwest Pakistan while on a mission to sneak into Afghanistan to hunt and kill Al Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.

The US embassy has filed an application seeking access to 52-year-old Gary Brooks Faulkner, an investigator said on condition of anonymity. No US officials have met the Californian so far, he said.

Officials from the US embassy in Islamabad arrived in Peshawar Wednesday to meet Faulkner once consular access in granted. Faulkner was arrested in a forest in Chitral district of Khyber-Pukthunkhwa province on Monday.

A pistol, a dagger, night vision goggles, some hashish and Christian literature were found in his possession. Police said he was trying to sneak into Nuristan province of Afghanistan to hunt and kill Osama Bin Laden.

The American national is currently in the custody of an intelligence agency in Peshawar and is being interrogated though he has not yet been formally charged with any crime.

Investigators believe Faulkner is not crazy and may have some "undercover agenda".

The area from where he was apprehended is not safe for foreigners. It has very difficult terrain and Faulkner's presence there was beyond any reason, an investigator said.

Security officials have said that Faulkner claimed he was "obeying an order from God to avenge" the 9/11 terror attacks by killing bin Laden. Faulkner's brother Scott Faulkner said he had a passion for tracking down the Al Qaida chief.

"Our military has not been able to track Osama down yet. It's been 10 years...It's easier as a civilian, dressed in the local dress, to infiltrate the...the local people, gain their confidence and get information and (intelligence) that you couldn't get as an American soldier...," Scott Faulkner was quoted as saying by the US media.

Faulkner has visited Pakistan at least six times and even grew a beard so he could blend in, his relatives said. Though a devout Christian, Faulkner has served about seven years in prison during 1981-1993 for crimes like burglary.

Faulkner's sister Deanna said he suffers from kidney disease and could be in "serious trouble" if he did not get dialysis. A Pakistani doctor has examined Faulkner and concluded that his condition is not life-threatening.