World

American arrested in Pakistan while on solo mission to kill Osama bin Laden, authorities say

Font Size:

The U.S. has spent nine years and billions of dollars trying to hunt down Osama bin Laden amid the rugged, lawless badlands along Pakistani-Afghan border.

But according to Pakistani officials, Gary Brooks Faulkner thought he could get the job done himself, with a pistol, a dagger and a pair of night-vision goggles.

The construction worker, whose age was variously reported as 52 and 40, was arrested early Monday in Pakistan’s Chitral region, a mountainous, forested expanse along the Afghan border. When questioned, he told authorities that he was “on a mission to decapitate Bin Laden,” Pakistani police officers quoted Faulkner as saying.

Faulkner didn’t get very far, they said. He had been staying at a hotel in the town of Bumburate in Chitral since June 3. Local police were providing security for him, not uncommon in regions along the border where kidnappings and killings of foreigners have occurred. But on Sunday, he sneaked out of the hotel without telling the officer who was assigned to him.

Full story: American arrested in Pakistan while on solo mission to kill Osama bin Laden, authorities say – latimes.com