US deports Pakistani national for supporting terrorism

The US has deported a Pakistani national sentenced to three years in prison for providing material support to a foreign terrorist organisation.

Zahid Yousaf, 45, was put on a Karachi-bound commercial plane on April 16 and was handed over to Pakistani law enforcement agencies two days later, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement yesterday.

Yousaf pleaded guilty to a felony count of conspiracy for providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation in federal court in September 2011.

The US District Court for the District of Columbia subsequently sentenced Yousaf to 36 months in federal prison in December 2011 and ordered his removal from the country, following the completion of his sentence.

The convict was taken into immigration custody on October 22, 2013 after his release from prison by the  Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE).

"ICE will continue to focus its enforcement operations on identifying, arresting and removing dangerous criminals who pose the greatest risk to our communities," said ICE's Acting Field Office Director Michael W Meade.

In fiscal year 2013, ICE conducted 368,644 removals nationwide.

Nearly 60 per cent of ICE's total removals had been previously convicted of a criminal offence and 82 per cent of individuals removed from the interior of the US were previously convicted of a criminal offence.