FBI raids home of former UN weapons inspector

ISTANBUL - The Unites States (US) Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and state police on Wednesday conducted a raid at the home of Scott Ritter, a former United Nations (UN) weapons inspector and current critic of US foreign policy, located in upstate New York.

According to Anadolu Agency, FBI agents and state police were seen entering Ritter’s residence in the hamlet of Delmar on Wednesday afternoon.

The reason for the raid remains unknown, and it is also unclear if Ritter, who has had legal issues in the past, was at the home during the operation, according to Fox News.

"I can confirm FBI personnel are at home on Dover (Drive) conducting law enforcement activity in connection with an ongoing federal investigation," the FBI spokesperson in Albany, the state capital, told Fox News Digital.

"As the investigation is ongoing, (Justice Department) policy prevents me from commenting further,” he added.

On the FBI raid at his home, Ritter claimed that the US government issued a search warrant, due to concerns about potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

"I am not in violation of the Foreign Agent Registration Act. I have not done anything that does it and hopefully, by executing the search warrant and taking the materials that they did, they will rapidly reach that conclusion,” Ritter told reporters in front of his house.

Agents of foreign governments working on US soil are required to register with the US government.

Ritter, also a critic of the 2003 Iraq war, served as a member of the UN team overseeing the disarmament of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction from 1991 to 1998, a post he quit in protest.

In the early 2000s, Ritter was convicted of several sexual offences, some involving minors. - BERNAMA-ANADOLU