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WPRO News and the Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Homeland Security agents have captured a 27-year-old Pawtucket man aboard a flight headed for France and Lebanon a few weeks before he was to begin serving a two-year sentence for his role in a contraband cigarette trafficking ring.
The Providence Journal cites court records that say federal probation officers alerted U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials Saturday that Najd Khalil had removed his electronic monitoring ankle bracelet and might be fleeing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Ferland said customs agents detained Khalil on a plane bound from Logan International Airport.
Ferland said Khalil received an emergency passport from the Lebanese embassy in New York Sept. 30, four days after he was sentenced in federal court to two years in prison.
He was due to begin his prison term Oct. 27.
