Five 'missing' Muslim Americans nabbed in Pak

New York, Dec. 10 (ANI): Pakistani security officials have reportedly apprehended five young Muslim Americans, who had disappeared last month from the Washington suburbs.

The men, age ranging from late teens to early 20s, were arrested during a police raid at a house in Punjab's Sargodha area, The New York Times reports.

Officials said the house from where all the men were nabbed belonged to Khalid Farooq, who is the father of one of the young men, Umer Farooq.

They claimed that Khalid has close ties with the banned militant organisation, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

It may be noted that an 11-minute video was recovered from the apartment of one of the men just after his mysterious disappearance along with four others.

The video called for defence of Muslims in conflicts with the West, and suggested that "young Muslims have to do something."

The sudden disappearance of the five men and their resurfacing in Pakistan has raised concerns in the United States about substantial increase in 'homegrown' terror cases.

Investigations have revealed that one of the five men, Ramy Zamzam, 22, is a dental student at Howard University.

One of Zamzam's old friends, Zohra Alnoor said she was shocked at the news of her friend's arrest.

Although Alnoor failed to describe Zamzam's political beliefs, she referred him as a 'devout'.

"He was very devout; he wouldn't date women," Alnoor said.

Zamzam's 16-year old neighbour, Peter Max-Jones, called him "very intelligent, very kind, very helpful. Good citizen, all around."

"Zamzam's family was very patriotic, very quiet.They're never outside. They're always at home, studying," Jones added. (ANI)