Chilean authorities on Tuesday extended the detention of a Pakistani man found with traces of explosives as he visited the US embassy to discuss a revoked visa.
“I am innocent and I do not know why this is happening. I think it is the fault of the United States, where I wanted to go for a month. That’s why I went to the embassy,” the man, who police identified as Mauhannas Saif Ur Rehnab Khan, told reporters.
“I have no idea what is happening here, but I imagine it has to do with what’s going on in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Rehnab, 28, said.
“I don’t know anything about bombs. I am a man who studies and works and I have nothing to do with that stuff,” he said.
Rehnab made the remarks as he was transferred in a police van to a hospital for a medical checkup ordered by Judge Ely Rothfield.
Under Chile’s anti-terror laws the suspect can be detained until Saturday, court sources said.
Experts found traces of a TNT explosive derivative on the young man’s hands, cellphone, bag and documentation after he went through a security checkpoint on Monday, prompting embassy staff to notify police.
Rehnab insisted he did not know where the traces came from, and said that he was at the embassy only to renew his visa.
But the State Department said in Washington that the embassy called Rehnab in after revoking his US visa.
It did not say why the visa had been revoked.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Rehnab had been called in “to clarify the information that we have on this individual …And as he came into the embassy, our explosive detectors went off.”
The Pakistani foreign ministry said its mission in Chile had been in touch with Rehnab and was waiting further details to be passed onto Islamabad.
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