REPORT: Saudi Arabian Traveler Arrested After Customs Agents Find Pressure Cooker In His Luggage

[FarCenter]

Federal authorities have arrested a Saudi Arabian who arrived by plane in Detroit on Saturday with a pressure cooker in his luggage, according to The Detroit News.

...

Al Kwawahir, who says he's in the U.S. to visit his nephew, had a page missing from his passport and initially lied to authorities about the pressure cooker. He told them brought the device for his nephew.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/traveler-arrested-for-pressure-cooker-2013-5

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. What if he just wanted to make stew?

[snooper2]

2. Yeah, cause the are SO hard to come by around here

They have to be imported from the Middle East

[Enrique]

3. maybe the good ones do

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.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130513/METRO01/305130415#ixzz2TCMp7MhX

[KittyWampus]

4. cheap and broken? then buy a decent quality one for a few bucks more & make sure it isn't broken.

[BainsBane]

6. They are expensive here

Suddenly pressure cookers are considered WMD. No pressure cooking while Muslim. It's ridiculous.

[cali]

7. Uncle is an idiot

if he did this to save a few bucks.

[BainsBane]

8. Why?

There is no prohibition against them, unlike hair gel. Do you really think people can anticipate all the things that arose paranoia among Americans?

[cali]

10. common sense. A month ago, pressure cookers were used as bombs- a fact

widely known. yeah, I think this was as predictable as sunrise. Uncle had enough bucks to fly to the U.S. He surely had enough money to purchase a pressure cooker here if that was the gift he desired to give. Or he could have brought another gift.

It was stupid.

[BainsBane]

11. You assume they watch American media

When they do not.

[cali]

15. uh, this was world wide headline news

and how the fuck do you know what media "they" watch?

[enlightenment]

12. An acquaintance of mine

had her mother-in-law bring her a particular brand of pressure cooker from India - they don't make them here or, apparently, sell them online (or perhaps it was prohibitively expensive to order online; not sure).

She likes that kind of cooker - and it is quite different from the kind usually seen in the US. She used it to make us a fabulous dal for lunch one day, which is where the conversation started.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. Either a very stupid Jihadi or a very stupidly indulgent uncle.

[Javaman]

9. In other news...

Stocks in stuff cabbage and stuffed peppers plunged overnight.

[Retrograde]

13. Missing passport page?

Now that is something I would expect Immigration to find a tad suspicious. Lying to the Feds probably didn't help either.

[LeftInTX]

14. And the pressure cooker is probably not the issue

These headlines kinda drive me nuts.
If he had a pressure cooker and not the other stuff would it even be an issue?

I don't cook with pressure cookers, but my grandmother had one. That thing was tough and trying to find a modern replacement would cost $$$. I can see why someone would want to bring one from home.