Traveler from Saudi Arabia arrested at Detroit Metro with pressure cooker

ctkid

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http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130513/METRO01/305130415#ixzz2TCWQLSfP


Federal agents arrested a Saudi Arabian traveler who arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport with a pressure cooker, a key component used in the Boston Marathon bombings last month.

Hussain Al Kwawahir appeared for a brief hearing at 1 p.m. in federal court on charges he allegedly used an altered passport and lied to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent about the pressure cooker.

It was unclear Monday whether the arrest is terrorism related or a misunderstanding. But the prosecutor handling the case is Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Tukel, who prosecuted the terror case against underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

During baggage inspection, officers noticed a page missing from his passport.

Al Kwawahir told officers he did not know how the page was removed from the passport.

During the baggage exam, officers found a pressure cooker.

Al Kwawahir said he brought the pressure cooker for his nephew because the devices are not sold in the United States, according to the complaint.

Later, he changed his story and admitted that his nephew had purchased a pressure cooker in the U.S. but it was cheap and broken.
 
Why would he lie about why he brought in a pressure cooker? And where is that page in his passport?
 
Utterly ridiculous. Seems more like a joke than a threat.
 
From the article posted above:
"I hope that our government is not criminalizing people if they travel and have cooking items just because they are Muslim or come from the Muslim world," Walid said. "I don't think someone flying with an empty pressure cooker elevates to a level of terrorism unless the government has some other sound information."

lol, "cooking items"! I don't know, I have never traveled from another country into the US but a pressure cooker would not be my choice of how I used my pounds in my luggage or carry on.

I have no idea whether this is just a waste of time and money or if there is actual cause for this, but if there is no case just think of the story this guy will have to tell.....yup, I got busted bringing a pressure cooker into the United States.
 
I'm a really understanding person, but a pressure cooker? Nope, I don't believe him.

Why do these guys always want to come to Detroit?
 
It sounds to me like a test run. Kind of like "can we get a pressure cooker through?"

And the sad part is, he probably could have if his passport hadn't been altered.
 
I'm a really understanding person, but a pressure cooker? Nope, I don't believe him.

Why do these guys always want to come to Detroit?

I agree. There's no way someone is casually traveling with a pressure cooker! (Oh, and they happen to have a page ripped out of their passport and they 'don't know how that happened'!)

And, yup, you are just naturally going to get more than your share in Michigan simply due to the greater concentration of Muslim immigrants compared to the rest of the U.S. We here in southwestern Ontario also have a slightly higher concentration of Muslims than much of the rest of Ontario/Canada (perhaps other than Montreal). While we have many lovely Muslim citizens who contribute in so many positive ways, there are those who are susceptible to 'negative influence' and radicalization. It's tough to deal with since you don't want to slander an entire population.

When a couple of young men from our area were identified as terrorists it was the final straw for much of the local Muslim population. They recognized that they were going to be under pressure unless they denounced those who would call themselves Muslim yet clearly espoused violence.

Time will tell if the non-extremists will take enough aggressive action to distance themselves from those that mean harm to innocent people. I believe that they will, but I need to see more evidence before I can feel totally comfortable with this. Extremism must be denounced by Muslims in no uncertain terms, rather than just simply saying that Islam is a religion of peace.

As I said, that appears to be what our local population is doing, but I would like to see it continue. Those peaceful Muslims deserve no less.
 
When my friend from Spain came to this country to visit for 7 months, he brought a pressure cooker in his luggage. He liked to cook fresh foods for his meals and wanted to be able to cook them quickly. Of course, there was nothing wrong with his passport.
 
Either this guy is up to something or he's the dumbest dude alive.

You'd think the last thing anybody would be taking on a flight right about now is a damn pressure cooker!
 
He could have traveled with 15 of 'em, had he desired, in checked baggage. No one inspects the cargo hold.
 
He could have traveled with 15 of 'em, had he desired, in checked baggage. No one inspects the cargo hold.

I didn't see anything in the article saying that he had it in the hand baggage. Either way, it was apparently no problem for anybody until they noticed the torn passport.
 

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