KARACHI: Police are ‘keenly awaiting’ the results of forensic examination of arms and ‘spy gadgets’ found in possession of a US citizen at Karachi airport, minutes before he was to fly to Islamabad, to ascertain the motive for his visit to Pakistan.

According US media reports, the man works for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the key investigation and intelligence agency of the United States.

But a police official said the investigators were not aware about the association of the suspect neither the authorities in Islamabad had conveyed any message to them in this connection.

They were focusing more on results of the forensic examination of ‘illegal and weaponry objects’. In the process, he said, the investigators had not found the suspect ‘very much cooperative’.

“Apart from 15 bullets of 9mm calibre along with a magazine, we have also found three knives, spy cameras and devices and other gadgets which included a computer,” the SSP Malir, Rao Anwaar, said.

“Each and every object is being examined by our forensic team, but it may take time to reach the conclusion as the process is quite delicate and lengthy. It will definitely help ascertain the motive of the suspect’s visit to Pakistan.”

He said the investigators faced resistance from the suspect while decoding ‘password-secured’ equipment. An object or two were still there of which passwords had not been shared by the suspect, he added.

“He has been booked in under the defined laws. He is not a diplomat who is required to go through some other kind of process for such a crime. We only know that he is a US citizen who is here on a visit visa, but carrying arms and spy gadgets to travel to the country’s capital,” said SSP Anwaar.

A judicial magistrate remanded the US citizen, Joel Cox Eugene, in police custody in an illicit arms case. Magistrate Adam H. Ishaq handed over the suspect to police till May 10 with the directive to produce him on the next hearing with a progress report.

The suspect was arrested on Monday evening after the Airports Security Force found him carrying knives, 15 bullets of 9mm calibre along with a magazine and other gadgets at the Karachi airport during checking before his departure to Islamabad. Hours after his arrest the US media claimed that the suspect was an FBI agent.

The Washington Post, quoting officials in Washington, said the suspect, who is assigned to the FBI Miami Field Office, was in Pakistan on a temporary duty. The newspaper also quoted the father of the suspect, who confirmed his son’s association with FBI, but said he was scheduled to be in Pakistan for about three months for ‘office-type work’ with ‘a non-FBI-type’ entity.

Anwar Iqbal adds from Washington: The US State Department said on Wednesday that the FBI official detained in Pakistan was there on a “temporary duty appointment”.

At a news briefing, the department’s spokesperson Jen Psaki confirmed that the detained official worked for the FBI and was sent there to work with the Defence Attaché’s office at the Islamabad embassy.

“We are coordinating with Pakistani authorities to resolve this” issue and hope that it would be resolved soon, she added.

Officials contended that the agent had forgotten a loaded gun magazine in his luggage and wasn’t ‘armed’. They also said that employees for the FBI and other US agencies are allowed to carry weapons in Pakistan when authorised.