SILOPI - Silopi Criminal Court rejected a request for release on bail of U.S. citizen Christian Cruf who was captured with 60 bullets at Habur border pass.
Sources said on Thursday that Ihsan Alkan, the lawyer of Cruf, applied to the Silopi Criminal Court and requested the release of his client on bail. The court rejected the request and sent Cruf's file to the Sirnak High Criminal Court.
Cruf who works for a U.S. company in Iraq tried to enter Turkey from the southeastern Habur Border pass three days ago but customs officers detained him when they found 60 bullets and 2 cartridge clips for Kalashnikov rifle and a mask in his bag.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Ankara issued a statement yesterday saying that news reports about arrest of a U.S. soldier at the Habur border crossing were incorrect.
It said that several Turkish newspapers reported the day before that a U.S. soldier was arrested at the Habur border pass for allegedly trying to enter Turkey from Iraq with several rounds of ammunition and other military supplies but those reports were incorrect.
The embassy stressed that no U.S. official, civilian or military, was arrested in any such incident.
(MS-ULG) 05.08.2004