Pakistani arrested with videos of Southern cities
Tapes included scenes from Georgia, Texas, Louisiana
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 Kamran Akhtar was carrying videotapes of buildings in several Southern cities.
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(CNN) -- A Pakistani citizen who was arrested while videotaping buildings in Charlotte, North Carolina, was charged with federal immigration violations, authorities announced Tuesday.
Kamran Shaikh -- also known as Kamran Akhtar -- was carrying videotapes of other Southern cities, according to an affidavit signed by U.S. Immigrations and Customs agent John Sherrill.
Those videos included images of Mansfield Dam in Austin, Texas; the MARTA transit system in Atlanta, Georgia; the Downtown Transit Center and Downtown Metro Trolley in Houston, Texas; and trolley cars in Dallas and New Orleans, Louisiana, the affidavit said.
The police chiefs of those cities were notified of the existence of the tapes Monday, an FBI source said.
Shaikh was arrested on July 20 after questioning by Charlotte police.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer Anthony Maglione arrested Shaikh as he taped the downtown area of the Southern banking center, including the Bank of America and Wachovia buildings, according to Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory.
As Maglione approached Shaikh, he stopped videotaping and started to walk away, the police officer said. Upon questioning, Maglione said Shaikh's answers were "all over the place."
"He said he had to hurry up because he was en route to the bus station, but when I got out [of the patrol car] he was going the opposite direction he was supposed to go for the bus station," Maglione said during a news conference in Charlotte.
On August 4, Shaikh was charged with immigration violations and for making false statements -- just three days after federal officials raised the terrorist threat level to "high" or "orange" in portions of Washington, northern New Jersey and New York City. Federal officials said they had reason to believe al Qaeda was planning attacks on financial institutions in the United States.
According to the affidavit unsealed Tuesday, Shaikh provided a New York driver's license and a Social Security card and initially told them he had a "green card" to work in the United States, but later admitted he did not have such a card.
Further investigation revealed that in March 1998, an Immigration Court had given Shaikh until July 12 of that year to voluntarily leave the country or reopen the case to ask for more time to become a permanent resident. No action was ever taken, according to court records.
