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Pakistan to Deport Blacklisted American


Pakistan's Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan says, a blacklisted American citizen Matthew Barrett will be deported once a joint interrogation team completes its work while addressing a news conference in Islamabad, Aug. 12, 2016.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan says, a blacklisted American citizen Matthew Barrett will be deported once a joint interrogation team completes its work while addressing a news conference in Islamabad, Aug. 12, 2016.

An American who was banned in Pakistan will be deported after recently being found inside that country, the interior minister said Friday.

Chaudry Nisar Ali Khan said that American citizen Matthew Barrett submitted incorrect information on his visa application.

Barrett, an Alabama native, was expelled from Pakistan in 2011 after being found near a sensitive military installation. Though Pakistani state media reports he was expelled for espionage, Khan said Friday that he was not considered a spy, but was involved in "wrong doings" and did not elaborate.

The 33-year-old Barret had lived in Islamabad for four years, where he had a wife and two children. He was arrested last week at a guest house in the capital after recently re-entering the country.

Khan has since suspended airport immigration staff that allegedly let Barret in, and state media reports that action would also be taken against Pakistani workers in Houston who issued Barrett's visa.

The minister has launched an investigation of the incident.

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