A man with an altered Saudi Arabian passport was arrested at Detroit Metro Airport after federal agents found a pressure cooker in his luggage.
According to a criminal complaint that was filed on Monday, passenger Hussain Al Khawahir arrived at Detroit Metro Airport from Saudi Arabia via a stop over in Amsterdam. He had a visa to enter the United States and a Saudi Arabian passport. USA Today reported that he told officers in baggage control that he was visiting his nephew at the University of Toledo.
Two customs officers interviewed the man and noticed that there had been a page removed from his passport. He claimed that he did not know how the page had been removed from his passport and that the passport was kept locked in a box that only his wife and young children had access too.
USA Today reported that customs and border officials also examined his luggage and found a pressure cooker, which they questioned him about. The man first said he brought it from his nephew and then changed his story and said his nephew had already purchased a pressure cooker in America but it was cheap and broke. Pressure cookers were used last month in the Boston bombings, putting custom's officials on high alert.
"On Monday afternoon, Kawahir was in federal court in Detroit, making his initial appearance on charges that he knowingly used an altered Saudi Arabian passport with missing pages, and made a materially false statement to a customs officer about the pressure cooker in his possession, all to gain entry into the United States. He is being temporarily detained pending a formal detention hearing at 1 p.m. Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit," reported USA Today.
Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations voiced concern over the arrest to Detroitnews.com.
"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."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
