A construction worker requiring kidney dialysis has been arrested in a Pakistan forest while hunting for Osama Bin Laden-Faulkner was arrested carrying a 40-inch Samurai sword, gun and night-vision goggles.
Gary Brooks Faulkner wanted to kill Osama bin Laden in order to avenge 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.
Gary Brooks Faulkner, age 50 and based in Greeley, Colorado, was caught by Pakistani police Monday in the remote area of Bumburat Valley that is near the border of Afghanistan's Nuristan province--Faulkner apparently hoped to to locate Osama Bin Laden. Police quoted Faulkner as saying he wanted to avenge the victims of the 9/11 attacks that occurred on New York and Washington.
Faulkner was found carrying Christian religious books, according to Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, a senior Pakistan police officer in the northwestern town of Chitral. Gary Brooks Faulkner arrived in Chitral on June 3--staying in a hotel in Bumburat Valley, an area famous for its spring dancing festival and attracting a large number of foreign visitors every year.
Faulkner's younger brother, Scott Faulkner, a physician, described Gary as "a man on a mission." A mission apparently clear only to him. "He's not crazy," Dr. Faulkner said of his brother. "He's not a psychopath. He's not a sociopath."
There are definitions of 'crazy' other than psychopath or sociopath.
The American construction worker was arrested with a Samurai sword over three feet long, a pistol gun and night-vision goggles in northwestern Pakistan. Faulkner told police investigators that he wanted to kill Osama Bin Laden in order to avenge the 2001 September 11 Terrorist attacks on the United States which occurred in both New York and Washington.
Dr. Scott Faulkner said his brother was born in Los Angeles, California, raised in Fort Collins, Colorado, and currently resides in Greeley. Gary Brooks Faulkner had temporarily relocated to California state in recent years, returning to Colorado. Faulkner has been divorced for 26 years--described as a devout Christian in faith, construction worker by trade.
Faulkner has used his carpentry skills to help build houses in Central America and in the U.S. South following the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
After the 9/11 attacks, Scott Faulkner says his brother began visiting Pakistan to try to find Osama bin Laden--apparently because he felt the United States military was not "doing enough." Dr. Faulkner said his brother grew a beard and adopted local Pakistani attire to assimilate into Pakistan culture and obtain intelligence there.
"Who says, 'Why do I rob banks? Because that's where the money is,'" Dr. Faulkner asked. He said his brother went to Pakistan because "that's where Osama [Bin Laden] is."
Seems there's a commonality running through the family.
The current trip was roughly Mr. Faulkner's sixth to Pakistan since 2002, Dr. Scott Faulkner said. The physician said he actually drove his brother to the airport for the trip, and that Mr. Faulkner supposedly wasn't carrying any weapons when he boarded the plane.
Either that or weapons were stashed in luggage-maybe the airport is less concerned about weapons heading out to Pakistan than than weapons on flights arriving from the area.
"He did not have a sword, although that is his weapon of choice in Pakistan," said Dr. Faulkner, who said he thought his brother obtained the sword in Pakistan.
The brother knows his "weapon of choice"?
Dr. Scott Faulkner said his brother also carried wire ties to use as handcuffs on Osama Bin Laden for when Faulkner was able to locate the Terrorist for capture. He said that if his brother, who requires dialysis three times a week, killed or captured Osama Bin Laden, he planned to use any reward money for capture of the Terrorist in order to retire to Nicaragua--Gary Brooks Faulkner apparently planned to help locals there build houses.
Because of Osama Bin Laden's security and Gary Brooks Faulkner's kidney condition and dialysis, Scott Faulkner said he wasn't sure if his brother would return from his Osama Bin Laden search alive. "I did not think I was going to see my brother again," Dr. Faulkner said.
Well, then--by all means, drive him to the airport.
"That's the nature of going to Pakistan and hunting a wanted man who is surrounded by people with automatic weapons," said the physician.
Hopefully the physician isn't in the mental health field.
Mr. Faulkner arrived in Pakistan on a tourist visa, and Pakistan police said it was his third trip to the area during the past five years. Mr. Faulkner disappeared from his Pakistan hotel Sunday night, slipping away from the police guard that had been posted there for his own security and safety, a common service in the area.
Faulkner was seized from a Pakistan forest in a high security zone--close to the border after a 10-hour hunt. Faulkner was carrying a 40-inch sword as a weapon, which he said he brought with him from California state, and several rounds of pistol bullets, Khan said. Mr. Faulkner surrendered without resistance and was flown to Peshawar Tuesday for further Pakistan police investigation.
Richard Snelsire, a United States Embassy spokesman, said the Peshawar consulate had been informed of the arrest of a U.S. citizen, adding that the Embassy is seeking access to the detained American. In Greeley, Colorado,
Daren Paredes--a former employee of Faulkner--said he was "shocked" by the arrest of the American in Pakistan. "He's not crazy," the former employee said. "He's a very intelligent man."
Dr. Scott Faulkner owned two 10-unit apartment buildings in Greeley and [Gary Brooks] Faulkner helped run them, said Paredes, who did carpentry work at the buildings. Paredes described Faulkner as a "really chatty," easygoing man who was "very strong in his faith with God." "He didn't go overboard," he said. "He's not like some people who try to preach you. He's more helpful than anything. He wouldn't push anything on you [with religious views]."
Paredes said Faulkner even hired Paredes' homeless mother--to help manage the apartment complex, and that Faulkner had given free [apartment] rooms to other homeless people. "He's a real nice guy," the former employee said. Paredes says nothing about Faulkner struck him as unusual.
Apparently the former employee didn't find it unusual that Faulkner was giving out free apartment rooms to people in a building he was supposed to be running, but didn't own--rooms truly owned by Faulkner's physician brother.
Paredes said he had never heard his boss talk about either the 9/11 New York and Washington attacks--or about Osama bin Laden. He says Faulkner never got angry or raised his voice--and that when he did something wrong at work, Mr. Faulkner just teased him and showed him how to perform the work correctly. He also had no idea where Faulkner obtained the 40-inch Samurai sword, pistol gun or night-vision goggles.