THE UNITED States government has withdrawn an offer for asylum in New York City extended to an Iraqi Government official and his family, who arrived in Jamaica earlier this week."All 10 Iraqis will leave the island this afternoon," Superintendent James Forbes, head of the Constabulary Communication Network, told The Gleaner yesterday.
According to a senior police officer, the political asylum was revoked by the US Government on the grounds that the information the Iraqis gave to FBI agents was of no use.
The Iraqis were scheduled to leave the island to Cuba, en route to Moscow and then to Iraq. The family of eight were among 10 Iraqi nationals who landed at the Sangster International Airport, Montego Bay on Sunday.
A senior police officer of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) told The Gleaner that the other two Iraqi nationals who were naturalised Canadian citizens, left the island yesterday afternoon on a 3:30 flight to Canada.
"They were escorted by Cana-dian authorities," the officer said.
The Iraqis, including four men, two women and two children were detained at the Sangster International Airport, after Jamaican officials discovered irregularities with their travel documents, police said. They arrived on a flight from Havana, Cuba, and were scheduled to depart for Belize on Monday.
A team of FBI agents arrived in the North Coast resort town of Montego Bay Monday to question the Iraqis, who have been held at an undisclosed Montego Bay hotel.
Jamaican officials alerted the FBI because of the heightened state of alert for terrorist attacks, Forbes said.
Two Canadian men of Middle Eastern descent were detained with the Iraqis but were released on Thursday.
No one has been charged with a crime. Under Jamaican law, police can hold suspects for up to a week without charging them.
