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Families shocked at the arrest of Indian suspects

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

The two Indians who are among several suspects held in the United States in the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington hail from Hyderabad.

Before seeing the photographs of Mohammed Jaweed Azmath and Ayub Ali Khan flashed on international television channels and in local newspapers, their worried family members had made enquiries at the control room helpline opened by the Andhra Pradesh government at the state secretariat.

"We are shocked by their arrest. We are really worried. But we are sure they are innocent and have nothing to do with the attacks," said an uncle of Azmath.

"They had contacted us just 10 days ago and told us that since they lost their jobs in New Jersey, they were going to Texas to join a new employer," another family member said.

According to him, the two were not highly educated and had been working in a New Jersey store since going to the US about nine years ago. The duo had returned to Hyderabad in January and stayed for about six months before returning to the US.

"As soon as we heard of the attacks, we were worried for their safety. Hence, they phoned their employer in New Jersey and we were told that they had left to join their new employer in Texas," a brother of Khan said.

"We have been seeing the media reports. We are devastated by the news. Azmath's father has taken ill. His wife, who is pregnant, is worried," a relative said.

Azmath's family lives in a house that was built recently with his savings from the US. His younger brother, wife, parents and other relatives stay in the house, just a furlong away from the Kamatipura police station.

The family has been receiving a stream of journalists since Tuesday morning, even as teams of police and intelligence officials have been visiting to gather information.

Khan's family, consisting of his wife, mother, brothers and other relatives, lives nearby.

Family members said both men hold Indian passports. "We do not know whether they have residential or work permits in the US. But we are sure they would not have indulged in terrorist activity. We hope they are able to prove their innocence," they said.

Azmath, 47, and Khan, 51, were taken into custody at a railway station in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday and taken to New York for questioning. They had flown from Newark, New Jersey, on September 11, the day of the terrorist attacks, on a flight headed for San Antonio, Texas. The flight was diverted to St Louis, Mississippi, after the attacks in New York and Washington.

The two men were pulled out of an Amtrak train in Forth Worth for a check by anti-narcotics officers. Finding that they did not possess relevant papers, the officers held Azmath and Khan for possible immigration violations. The Federal Bureau of Investigation later took them into custody.

They had a few thousand dollars in cash and box cutters of the type used by the hijackers, according to the FBI.

Subsequently, investigators raided the Jersey City apartment that the men had been sharing and made enquiries with their employers and landlords.

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