seruriermarshal
05-21-2004, 07:35 PM
(Migrant)Egyptian jailed in W. Texas bus bomb scare
PECOS -- A man who identified himself as an Egyptian national was in a West Texas jail today after allegedly saying he left a bomb in a bag on a Greyhound bus.
The man, whom U.S. Border Patrol officials declined to identify, was taken off the bus at the patrol's Sierra Blanca checkpoint during a routine immigration inspection Thursday night. Inspectors searched him and found a claim ticket for a bag they thought might still be on the bus.
"They asked him what was in it, and he said, 'A bomb,'" Marfa Border Patrol sector spokesman Bill Brooks said today.
Bomb squads stopped the bus on Intestate 20 near Pecos, which is about 100 miles east of Sierra Blanca and 175 miles east of El Paso.
The 28 passengers were taken to a truck stop in Pecos for about five hours. After the search failed to turn up a bomb, the passengers got back on and continued on their way from El Paso to Dallas.
Brooks said the man was being held at the Hudspeth County Jail. Brooks said the man had been deported from the United States in 2002 for being in the country illegally.
"He declared himself as an Egyptian, but he did not have any paperwork saying he was in the United States legally," Brooks said.
Although Border Patrol officials were looking at what laws the man may have violated, Brooks said, "I think any charges will be immigration-related."
Larry Hill, who was driving the bus, told the Pecos Enterprise that the man was in his mid-40s and had a beard.
"He got off cool and calm. He didn't say anything," Hill said. "He wasn't handcuffed or anything, they just said they would do a check on him."
PECOS -- A man who identified himself as an Egyptian national was in a West Texas jail today after allegedly saying he left a bomb in a bag on a Greyhound bus.
The man, whom U.S. Border Patrol officials declined to identify, was taken off the bus at the patrol's Sierra Blanca checkpoint during a routine immigration inspection Thursday night. Inspectors searched him and found a claim ticket for a bag they thought might still be on the bus.
"They asked him what was in it, and he said, 'A bomb,'" Marfa Border Patrol sector spokesman Bill Brooks said today.
Bomb squads stopped the bus on Intestate 20 near Pecos, which is about 100 miles east of Sierra Blanca and 175 miles east of El Paso.
The 28 passengers were taken to a truck stop in Pecos for about five hours. After the search failed to turn up a bomb, the passengers got back on and continued on their way from El Paso to Dallas.
Brooks said the man was being held at the Hudspeth County Jail. Brooks said the man had been deported from the United States in 2002 for being in the country illegally.
"He declared himself as an Egyptian, but he did not have any paperwork saying he was in the United States legally," Brooks said.
Although Border Patrol officials were looking at what laws the man may have violated, Brooks said, "I think any charges will be immigration-related."
Larry Hill, who was driving the bus, told the Pecos Enterprise that the man was in his mid-40s and had a beard.
"He got off cool and calm. He didn't say anything," Hill said. "He wasn't handcuffed or anything, they just said they would do a check on him."