Ramy Zamzam & Waqar Khan among 5 Americans Detained in Pakistan

by Scott Wu | December 9, 2009 at 01:11 pm

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The five men reported missing from the Washington DC area last month have been arrested. According to an initial investigation, the identities of the 5 detained Americans were: Ahmed Abdullah, Waqar Hassan Khan, Eman Hassan, Yasir Zamzam, and Ramy Zamzam. They are suspected to have engaged in acts of terrorism.

A video left by one of the missing men was obtained. However, the content of the video has not been disclosed, but some suspect it was a farewell message.

Initial investigations have identified them as Ahmed Abdullah, Waqar Hassan Khan, Eman Hassan, Yasir and Rami Zamzam.

Ramy Zamzam is a Howard University dental student. He has been active in the Muslim Students Association, served as president.

The identities of two of the missing men, Howard student Ramy Zamzam and Waqar Khan, have been mentioned in online postings, including a Facebook page that was set up Monday for friends to offer their support. Some of those pages, however, appear restricted to friends and associates.

Breaking News: Pakistan Reportedly Detains Five D.C.-Area Muslims on Suspicion of Terror By The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT)

**Updated December 9, 9:00 a.m. EST

A Pakistani newspaper reports the arrest of five foreign nationals after a raid in a town called Sargodha. The raid took place at the home of a member of the Jaish-e-Muhammad, a Pakistani movement designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2001.

According to the report, "The DPO told that these people had been living in Sargodha since Nov 30 and it was quite a possibility that they were engaged in acts of terrorism." It names the five as Ahmed Abdullah, Waqar Hassan Khan, Eman Hassan, Yasir and Rami Zamzam and describes them as two Yemenis, an Egyptian, a Swede and a U.S.-born Pakistani.

December 8: Federal investigators are searching for a Howard University dental student and four other missing Muslim men reported missing from the Washington, D.C. area, the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) has learned. There is concern they may have been sent abroad to train for jihad. The five were last seen November 29.

The identities of two of the missing men, Howard student Ramy Zamzam and Waqar Khan, have been mentioned in online postings, including a Facebook page that was set up Monday for friends to offer their support. Some of those pages, however, appear restricted to friends and associates.

It is not clear where the men are believed to have gone, but an informed source told the IPT that at least one left behind a farewell video.

According to the Facebook and Twitter postings, Zamzam is among the missing. He has been active in the Muslim Students Association, serving as president of the MSA DC Council. A Howard University spokeswoman has not responded to questions from the IPT.

Read our full report here.

Five missing Americans probed for terror links in Pakistanfrom The Washington Times stories: News by ASSOCIATED PRESSWASHINGTON (AP) -- Five young Americans captured in Pakistan are under investigation for possible links to terrorism after their families found a disturbing farewell video the missing men left behind showing scenes of war and casualties and saying Muslims must be defended. Frantic relatives and worried FBI agents have been searching for the five men for more than a week, since their disappearance in late November. The missing men, ranging in age from 19 to 25, have family roots in the northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., area. One, Ramy Zamzan, is a dental student at Howard University.

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