A man was arrested this week trying to board a flight out of Puerto Rico while carrying weapons that included a stun gun, a switchblade and four box cutters, US authorities said on Wednesday.
Jose Pol, 59, a resident of Rhode Island, was passing through a security checkpoint at the US territory’s main international airport on Monday when Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents discovered the weapons in his carry-on luggage.
US authorities have not found any evidence linking the case to terrorism.
In Rhode Island, the man’s son, also named Jose Pol, said the suspect’s girlfriend believes he was bringing the knives to help her cut boxes at her job in the produce section of a Wal-Mart. He described his father as a packrat who hoards belongings and said he may have been collecting the other weapons as toys.
“It don’t surprise me ... It was dumb of him doing that,” the 23-year-old Pol said in an interview at his home in Pawtucket.
The suspect remained in custody as investigators tried to determine his motive. US prosecutors have charged him with attempting to board an aircraft with concealed weapons, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
“We continue to investigate his motivation and if he has any affiliation with any terrorist or other organization,” an FBI spokesman in San Juan, Harry Rodriguez said.
Pol was scheduled to take a JetBlue flight to Boston when he was arrested by FBI agents.
According to an FBI affidavit, a TSA agent noticed irregularities when Pol’s luggage went through an X-ray scanner and sent him for a secondary search. Officers then discovered the knives as well as two lighters, six batteries, a button device with a wire that gives off an electric charge when pressed, a flight simulator program and New York City information cards.
Pol was waiting to be assigned a public defender. Detention and bail hearings were scheduled for today.
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