FBI Says Incident Not Terror-Related

A man with a box cutter in his luggage who had boarded a flight after successfully passing through airport security triggered the arrest of both he, and his travel companion on state weapons charges at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport recently.

According to the Associated Press, authorities said Chhaganbhai Patel, 60, was stopped at the airport October 25 after he was found with a number of knives, including a martial arts-style knife.

Shakarabhai Patel, 64, who was traveling with him, had already made it through security and onto the Delta Air Lines jet, which was bound for New York and then to India, authorities said. The plane was brought back to the gate, and police said a box cutter and $5,000 cash were found in the second man's bag.

Both have been charged with state violations of carrying concealed weapons, according to an Atlanta police report.

Federal agents interviewed the two men through an interpreter and determined the incident was not terrorism-related. No federal charges were brought, FBI spokesman Stephen Emmett said November 1. No explanation was given for why the men had the knives.

Atlanta police Lt. Jim Corlino told Atlanta television station WAGA-5 the way the knives were packed "was an intentional concealment."

"The (martial arts) knife was a large, Chinese-style fighting knife," Corlino said. Authorities said they also found 20 small knives wrapped in tin foil and razor blades hidden in the battery compartment of a toy car. The police report said the man indicated he wrapped the knives to keep them from cutting his clothes.

Jon Allen, spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, said the arrests illustrate the agency's practice of having multiple layers of security.

"One of those layers is professionally trained officers who through their questioning identified the travel companion," Allen said. "The travel companion was removed from the flight and rescreened and that's when that box cutter was identified."

Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton said the airline cooperated fully with authorities.

FMI: www.atlanta-airport.com, www.tsa.gov, www.fbi.gov