Missing Men From Afghanistan May Have Been Trying To Escape In Colorado
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) - Three men from Afghanistan are missing from Colorado.
They are part of one of the numerous groups that come to the International Correctional Management Training Center in Canon City from around the world to learn how to run prisons, and there are concerns they may have used the opportunity to escape from their own country.
The group the men were part of was on an excursion to Colorado Springs on Saturday when the three in question failed to show up at the designated time and place.
The ICMTC website states that residents of 36 different countries have been represented at their training programs.
A Colorado Department of Corrections spokesman stated:
"The U.S. State Department conducts background checks and thoroughly vets all of the students that attend the training center."
He said this was not the first time attendees sent here from Afghanistan have suddenly disappeared. He said it has happened three times in the past four years with representatives from Afghanistan. Sometimes the Afghans who go missing head to Canada, he said.
Members of the ICMTC group are issued U.S. visas and are free to travel on their own while they are here.
The U.S. State Department told CBS4 it is aware of the three currently missing.
CBS4's Rick Sallinger is a Peabody award winning reporter who has been with the station more than two decades doing hard news and investigative reporting. Follow him on Twitter @ricksallinger.
