Saddam Hussein’s stepson arrived in his adopted home country early on Wednesday after being deported from the United States where he had tried to enrol in a flight school used by a Sept. 11 hijacker.
Mohammed Nour al-Din Saffi arrived in New Zealand in the custody of an FBI officer, said Mark Champion, a representative for Air New Zealand, the company Saffi works for as a ground engineer.
Saffi (36) a naturalised New Zealand citizen, was arrested by US authorities in Florida on July 3 for immigration violations.
After arrival, officials led him through a side exit at Auckland airport to avoid waiting news crews. At his modest suburban home in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, curtains were drawn and nobody answered the door.
”I’m sorry, we’re not interested (in speaking),” a woman who answered the Saffi family’s telephone said to The Associated Press before hanging up.
Saffi was deported on Monday because he did not apply for a student visa that would have allowed him to take courses at a Miami-based flight school. Instead he travelled as a tourist under a visa waiver as a citizen of New Zealand.
According to the FBI, Saffi planned to attend classes at Aeroservice Aviation Centre, where one of the Sept. 11 hijackers, Ziad Jarrah, had trained. Jarrah was aboard a United Airlines flight that crashed in rural Pennsylvania.
Authorities in New Zealand said that there was no evidence that Saffi was connected to any terrorist group.
No criminal charges are pending against Saffi in the United States, the Naturalisation and Immigration Service said.
Saffi is the eldest son of Samira al-Shahbandar, who is now Saddam’s second wife. His father is Nour al-Din Saffi, an aviation engineer and former head of the Iraqi Airways.
Saffi, who is married and has two teenage children, has lived and worked in New Zealand for about six years.
Air New Zealand said Saffi was expected to return to work ”soon.” He has been on vacation, and the flight training was a private activity not related to his work, airline representative Champion said.
Jimmy Brooks, director of air freight company Tiger Lines Cargo, claimed Friday he sent Saffi to a Miami flying school to get his Boeing 727 pilot’s license re-certified.
Brooks told The Associated Press that Saffi planned to work part time for his Auckland-based company as a flight engineer. The company has yet to begin operations. – Sapa-AP