3 Afghan soldiers that went missing face U.S. immigration charges



AFP PHOTO / Clément Sabourin



(CNN) -- Three Afghan National Army officers, who disappeared while guests of the U.S. military at a training exercise in Massachusetts, are being charged with immigration violations.

The men disappeared Saturday and reappeared Monday in the custody of Canadian border guards.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took custody of the three Tuesday morning, Massachusetts ICE spokesman Daniel Modricker told CNN.

They are being charged with administrative immigration violations and have been placed into removal proceedings, the spokesman said.

Maj. Jan Mohammad Arash, Cpt. Mohammad Nasir Askarzada and Cpt. Noorullah Aminyar were caught by Canadian border guards at Rainbow Bridge, a checkpoint on the border at Niagara Falls. They went missing after a trip to a mall.

Authorities have said they posed no threat to the public.

The men arrived in the United States on September 11 for the annual Exercise Regional Cooperation and were quartered at Joint Base Cape Cod, according to the Massachusetts National Guard. The training included troops from six nations.




CNN's Leigh Remizowski contributed to this report.