Five Afghan soldiers and police officers undergoing training in the U.S. at Cape Cod and Quantico, Virginia disappeared from their units and ended up in Western New York in separate situations.
Three Afghan National Army officers disappeared from their training group group in Massachusetts on Saturday. Monday morning, were found trying to cross the Rainbow Bridge into Canada. They were part of a group of 200 soldiers and civilians that had been been training for nearly two weeks at Cape Cod. Officials say they believe the three are not dangerous.
State police spokesman David Procopio said federal authorities were interviewing the officers, but provided no further details.
Military officials say the Afghan soldiers had been participating in a U.S. Central Command Regional Cooperation training exercise at Joint Base Cape Cod. They arrived at Camp Edwards in Massachusetts on Sept. 11. They were last seen Saturday at the Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis during an off day for the program.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said earlier Monday that he had no reason to believe the soldiers posed any danger to the public.
On Saturday, two other Afghans, both police officers, left their group in Quantico and came to Western New York, apparently to visit relatives. Their training was a five-week program designed to teach them how to conduct narcotics investigations.
They have since voluntarily returned to Quantico and have now returned to Afghanistan along with the rest of their training class.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.