Southern District of Texas
Donald J. DeGabrielle, Jr. - United States Attorney

PAKISTANI STUDENT CONVICTED OF UNLAWFULLY POSSESSING FIREARM

          (Houston) Shiraz Syed Qazi, 29, a Pakistani national in the United States on a student visa, has been convicted of unlawfully possessing a firearm, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today.

          Qazi was found guilty by United States District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal on Tuesday, January 30, 2007, following a stipulated facts bench trial. During the brief trial, the following facts were presented to the court by the United States. Through the testimony of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents, the United States proved that Qazi, a citizen of Pakistan born in Kuwait in1981, last entered the United States on February 19, 2003, as an F-1 student visa holder. Qazi maintained that status by filing the appropriate certificate of eligibility forms and by maintaining a full class load at the university he was attending through his arrest on the firearms charge in November 2006 . Given Qazi’s status as a non-immigrant student visa holder, Qazi is prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm.

          Testimony of two others would prove that on or about July 15 through 17, 2005, Qazi went camping with two others in the Southern District of Texas. Over this weekend, these two witnesses saw Qazi shooting an Armalite M-15, .223 caliber semi automatic rifle, and could identify Qazi in photographs taken at the camp during the weekend trip in which Qazi is holding firearm. A special agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATFE) would testify that the Armalite M-15, .223 caliber semi automatic rifle possessed by Qazi in Texas in July 2005 was operable and manufactured in Illinois and thus traveled in interstate commerce.

          Once the parties rested, Judge Rosenthal found Qazi guilty of the felony firearm offense and set sentencing for May 17, 2007, at 8:45 a.m. Qazi faces a maximum statutory penalty of ten years imprisonment; a fine of $250,000 and three years supervised release. Qazi, ordered detained without bond following his arrest in November, 2006, will remain in federal custody pending his sentencing hearing.

          The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the agency’s Joint Terrorism Task Force with participation by: the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Houston Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Assistant United States Attorneys Shelley J. Hicks and Glenn Cook are prosecuting the case.

 

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