Pakistani student extradited from UK to US | Pakistan Today | Latest news | Breaking news | Pakistan News | World news | Business | Sport and Multimedia
LONDON - A Pakistani student Usman Ahzaz was extradited from Britain on Friday to United States on the request of Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI).
The FBI alleged that Ahzaz had "surreptitiously controlled" over 100,000 protected computers without the owners' knowledge. Previously, those computers had been infected with malicious software (malware), FBI alleged in court papers.
The FBI went on to allege that in June 2010, Usman sold "installs" to an undercover FBI agent who paid the Pakistani student USD 600 in return for his agreement to "surreptitiously install what he believed to be malicious computer code (provided by the undercover agent) onto the compromised computers within the appellant's botnet.
The FBI alleged that the software provided to Ahzaz was "indeed installed on more than 100,000 computers" but no harm was caused which showed that it was an entrapment and the Pakistani national was allured into the trap.
"I have no idea what the Americans will do to me when I am there. I have no money to afford a lawyer there. My lawyers advised me to ask the government of Pakistan to intervene and ask the British government to stop my extradition but the government of Pakistan didn't do anything for me. I would have liked to have a fair trial in Pakistan. If the government of Pakistan doesn't do anything to stop my extradition then that will be end of my life," Ahzaz said.
The FBI alleged that Ahzaz had hacked 100,000 computers but were unable to prove it in the London High Court and the number was therefore brought down to 800 computers, which could not be proved as well.
"Whenever I contacted the government, I was told that they have written to someone but never told me who to," Ahzaz said.
"They never visited me when I was in prison. I was treated like dirt. Pakistani officials didn't respond to my lawyer's request for help. It's due to the failure of the Pakistani government that I will be extradited to the US to face charges in American courts even after nothing could be proven in London, for the crimes I have never committed," he said.
