Indonesian Man Tried to Board Plane in Philly With Concealed Homemade Knives

They were "from God," said the man, who apparently flew with them from the Middle East to PHL in mid-December.

Photos: TSA Blog | Wikimedia via Piotrus

Photos: TSA Blog | Wikimedia via Piotrus

From the Department of Things You Didn’t Hear About But Probably Should Have comes the case of Achmad Bachri, an Indonesian man who allegedly attempted to board a plane in Philadelphia carrying two homemade knives under his shirt.

According to a criminal complaint filed by the Department of Justice in Philadelphia’s federal court (embedded below), Bachri flew from Doha, Qatar, to Philadelphia International Airport on December 19th and tried to make a connection to Miami on US Airways when TSA agents noticed two lumps under his shirt.

The lumps were revealed to be a three-inch blade hidden inside a highlighter and another of the same length inside a pen.

When TSA agents questioned Bachri about the knives, he told them that they were from his grandfather and “from God,” according to the complaint. Prosecutors say that Bachri, an Indonesian citizen traveling on an Indonesian passport, is a crewman for Norwegian Cruises, operating out of Miami.

The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force has gotten involved, and the Department of Homeland Security is seeking to take custody of Bachri — hardly surprising considering the fact that his home country is a growing source of jihadists and that he was flying from Qatar, a country well known for supporting terrorists. The Department of Justice would not comment on whether Bachri has any known ties to terrorist groups or if he is, in fact, a Muslim. Bachri’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.