US intelligence officer found

Mattysse is being questioned in Tel Aviv

A senior American army intelligence officer who is wanted after disappearing from his job in the US has been found in southern Israel.

Jeremiah Mattysse: Religious clue to disappearance

Lieutenant Colonel Jeremiah Mattysse was found after a nationwide search in the Negev desert.

He is being questioned at a police station in Petah Tikva in Tel Aviv.

The 50-year-old officer was declared absent without leave over a week ago after he failed to return to his base near San Antonio, Texas.

Local reports said his girlfriend Ricky Niv told police where his hiding place was.

He had been in command of a unit that trained military intelligence staff and which reportedly had access to sensitive information.

Immigration bid

Israel is currently discussing his case with Washington, which had requested for the search for Colonel Mattysse.

Israeli police do not have the authority to detain him as he has not committed any crime in the country.

Jailed US spy Jonathan Pollard: Comparison dismissed as preposterous

Extradition agreements with the US also do not cover the charges that he is facing in the US.

Israel's Interior Ministry confirmed that Colonel Mattysse, a recent convert to Judaism, filed a petition for immigrant status two weeks ago.

US officials believe he fled to Israel because of an army investigation into alleged adultery, which had led to his transfer to another post in February.

'Love of Israel'

Ms Niv told Israel Radio that he had lost his post after he joined the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect Habad.

She said he had been fled to Syria because he was being persecuted for his love of Israel.

"He left in disguise, wearing a wig, moustache and a beard," she said.

Ms Niv, a dual US and Israeli national, said that US officials had visited her at her home in the Israeli town of Kfar Saba, and removed various materials sent by Colonel Mattysse.

But Israeli officials have dismissed Ms Niv as "unstable" and denied her implication that Colonel Mattysse had been spying for Israel.

They also said that any comparison between Colonel Mattysse and Jonathan Pollard, a US citizen serving a life sentence for spying for Israel, was "preposterous".

Ms Niv is also a member of the ultra-Orthodox Habad sect, known for emotional displays of fervent prayer, and a belief in the universal immanence of God.

---

A photograph on an earlier version of this story may have suggested that a group of those shown were members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect Habad. One of those shown, Rabbi Hirsch, has asked us to point out that he is not a member of the sect. We are happy to do so and apologise to him.