Expired visa: US national in 14-day judicial custody

PESHAWAR: A court on Saturday remanded in custody an American national thought to have been working for a private security company, after he outstayed his Pakistani visa, police said.

The US embassy in Islamabad identified the man arrested on Friday as Aaron Mark DeHaven.

“The American national was produced in the court, which sent him to jail on 14-day judicial remand,” said Hashmat Khan, a police official. “He will now be produced before the court on March 14.”

Meanwhile, an application seeking DeHaven’s bail was filed Saturday afternoon in the same court, his lawyer Fakhar Alam Jhagra said. “The court will take up the bail application for hearing on Monday,” he said.

The purpose of the visit by DeHaven, whose visa expired in December last year, was unclear but a security official told AFP he had been working with private security agency Catalyst in Islamabad. Express 24/7 however reported that DeHaven told the court he owns a construction company and came to Pakistan on a business visa.

Peshawar police are carrying out raids to arrest associates DeHaven to include them in the investigations into the case.

On Friday, Hashmat Khan quoted DeHaven as saying he had travelled to Peshawar to meet a Pakistani girl.

AFP with additional input from our correspondent

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2011.