( CNN ) -- What 's in a name ? If you are Mohamed Ibrahim Makkawi , years of trouble and the shadow of a senior al Qaeda figure lurking over your every move . Makkawi 's arrival at Cairo 's airport Wednesday caused a brief flutter of excitement . Could it be that one of the most senior figures in al Qaeda had been detained in dramatic ( and highly unlikely ) fashion after stepping off an Emirates flight from Islamabad in Pakistan ? The confusion arose because Saif al-Adel -- regarded as al Qaeda 's third-most-senior figure -- had long been associated with an alias identical to Makkawi 's name . The two men do have some common background . Both were Egyptian military officers who joined the Egyptian Islamic Jihad . Makkawi was a major and an explosives expert in Egypt 's Special Forces . He went on trial in 1987 for his Islamist connections and was dismissed from the army . Both he and al-Adel -- then a lieutenant and apparently a more active militant -- left for Pakistan and joined Osama bin Laden 's jihad . By 1988 , Makkawi was fighting Soviet forces and their surrogates in Afghanistan . `` I last saw Makkawi in 1989 when we fought together , '' Mohamed Omar Abdel Rahman , another former jihadist from Egypt , told CNN Wednesday . `` I also knew al-Adel well and fought alongside with him during our jihad , '' added Abdel Rahman , who is also the son of the blind sheikh now serving a jail term in the United States for his involvement in the 1993 attempt to blow up the World Trade Center . According to a source who followed al Qaeda at the time , Makkawi fell out with bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri , al Qaeda 's current leader , soon after arriving in Pakistan . By about 1990 , the source says , Makkawi had given up the gun in favor of contributing to a magazine in Islamabad -- Akdas Wakadaya or `` Events and Issues . '' Nearly a decade later , al-Adel became a wanted man for his part in the plots to blow up the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania . U.S. authorities published his profile as part of the Rewards for Justice program and listed `` Muhamad Ibrahim Makkawi '' as an alias . And the real Makkawi 's nightmare began . By then , he had married a Pakistani woman and was living as a political refugee in Islamabad . For 10 years , Makkawi was regularly confused with al Qaeda 's rising star . He adopted the e-mail address `` Unjustly_Guilty @ ... .. , '' and from his home in Islamabad 's Upper Portion began a campaign to clear his name . CNN has obtained a copy of a letter Makkawi wrote to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in 2009 that recounts his appeals to authorities in several countries . `` I am trying to resettle my normal life in Pakistan after getting married to a Pakistani lady but have accomplished nothing as a result of the Egyptian and Saudi regime 's pressure on Pakistani agencies and my moral obduracy , '' he began . Makkawi said his children had been expelled from school and friends , neighbors and relatives had become informants for intelligence agencies . `` After the agencies lost hope to force me to accept fake al Qaeda No . 3 role and the big 9/11 lie , they attempted to kill me and my two elder sons by despicable means , '' Makkawi claims , adding that at one point there had been an attempt to poison him . In desperation , he told the UNHCR , he appealed to President George W. Bush and also asked the FBI to detain him . `` Hoping to put an end to this preposterous puppet show and to put myself under the responsibility of FBI , I sent an e-mail on 7th September 2005 to the head office of FBI requesting to be arrested and to face all accusations raised against me in a fair trial , '' he wrote . He did not receive a reply . Somehow , after being denied travel papers for more than 10 years , Makkawi was apparently able to obtain travel documents from the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad . And then he boarded a plane to Cairo Wednesday , in an effort to clear his name and expunge the shadow of Saif al-Adel . The confusion over his real identity persisted for some hours after his arrival . Eventually , the Egyptian Ministry of Interior confirmed that al-Adel was still at large . `` Mohamed Ibrahim Makkawi is not Saif al-Adel , '' the ministry said . `` There is obvious confusion of data among security apparatus and the media . They are two different people. `` But the real Makkawi 's troubles are far from over . The Interior Ministry confirmed to CNN that Makkawi was still a wanted man and faced charges of terrorism and conspiracy to topple the regime . He will remain in detention and appear before the Higher State Security Court , the ministry said . CNN 's Mohamed Fadel Fahmy contributed to this report .
There are many differences between him and al - Adel . Makkawi has worked for years to clear his name . Iraq 's Interior Ministry says al - Adel is still at large .