Chicago Man Who Vanished “With Terrorists” Back Home After The Faking Abduction
By Jon Yates, Chicago Tribune
A Chicago man charged with faking his own kidnapping after a fight with his pregnant wife posted bail Monday and was released from a Maine jail.
Zubair Ghias, an investment banker, boarded a plane late Monday afternoon with his wife and parents and headed home, his attorney, Mark Rotert, said.
“I think he’s obviously encouraged that he’s able to rejoin his family,” Rotert said after the brief federal court hearing in Bangor. “He does want to go home.”
Ghias, 27, was charged on Friday with lying to the FBI after he said he had been abducted. The investment banker spent the weekend in a Maine jail before posting a $50,000 deed-of-trust bail, pledging his Lincoln Park condominium as collateral if he fails to show for his next court appearance.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Margaret Kravchuk also ordered Ghias to surrender his passport and undergo a mental-health evaluation.
Ghias left home Feb. 14, reportedly telling his wife, Jehan Ara Ameen, that he was going to work. Ameen, who is six months’ pregnant, reported him missing two days later.
Police found his sport-utility vehicle parked in Englewood, and a private investigator tracked him to New York.
The next time his family heard from him was Thursday night, when he called home from aboard a Royal Air Maroc flight to Casablanca, Morocco. Ghias told relatives he had been kidnapped by a group of Arabs and forced to board the airplane, police said. Federal officials relayed the story to the airline and said Ghias might have a bomb. The pilot turned the plane around and landed in Bangor.
Investigators searched the plane and found no explosives.
When FBI agents interviewed Ghias, he repeated his story that he had been kidnapped, then later admitted he was lying, according to an affidavit filed in court.
Ghias told investigators he fled Chicago after having a fight with his wife because he wanted to “get away from everything.”
In Chicago, police Supt. Philip Cline said his department is considering charging Ghias, although Cline is not sure what the charge would be. Detectives want to interview Ghias after he returns to Chicago, Cline said.
Cline said he would look into asking Ghias to pay for the time officers spent searching for him.
“I think there’s a lot more information that needs to be gathered and evaluated,” said Rotert. “People should not assume anything.”