Washington — The FBI said Sunday it is looking for five men of Middle Eastern ancestry who may have entered the United States illegally last week.

The agency said the five men are believed to have arrived in the United States on or before Christmas Eve.

The five men are: Abid Noraiz Ali, Iftikhar Khozmai Ali, Mustafa Khan Owasi, Adil Pervez and Akbar Jamal, all born between 1969 and 1983. The FBI warned that the names and birth dates may be false.

The men's countries of origin were not disclosed.

The FBI said it had no indication the men were linked to terrorist activities, but still wanted to question the five "based upon information developed in the course of on-going investigations."

The FBI said it was working with the Customs, Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Transportation Security Agency to find the men.

CNN quoted a source as saying the men may have entered the United States from Canada but that could not be confirmed.

RCMP spokesman Paul Marsh said the force is aware of the interest expressed in the men by the FBI.

He said the RCMP would not speculate about whether the men entered the United States from Canada, especially when unnamed sources are quoted by the media.