A U.S. college student who said he bought dynamite as a souvenir in Bolivia was arrested on Friday when a bomb-sniffing dog found the substance in his luggage after he arrived at the Houston airport from Buenos Aires.
The flight was Continental Airlines Flight 52, which was searched in Houston and again as a precaution on arrival in Newark, New Jersey
Howard McFarland Fish, 21, was charged with carrying an explosive aboard an aircraft and was being held without bail, pending a hearing in federal court on Monday.
He could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, said a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston.
Authorities said Fish, who attends college in Pennsylvania and lives in Connecticut, was not suspected of any terrorist connections, but that a small stick of dynamite and some other suspicious items were found in his baggage.
In Buenos Aires, Marcelo Sain, head of Argentina's Airport Security Police, told local TV that authorities found "a Coca Cola bottle with mud, and inside it was a tube with ammonium nitrate, a little bit of dynamite and a detonator."
Mark Mancuso, deputy director for public safety at Houston airports, said Fish told authorities the items were souvenirs purchased at a mine in Bolivia.
Come on! This retard is in college? He so deserves jail for 10 years just because he's too stupid to be let loose in the general public.
Posted by: Charlie | August 26, 2006 9:51 PM | Permalink to Comment