Tampa: Muslim man caught trying to bring 7-inch Knife onto plane

TAMPA - Federal authorities have charged a 24-year-old man with trying to bring a seven-inch knife aboard a plane at Tampa International Airport.

Raed Abduhl-Rahman Alsaif was arrested June 4 as he tried to board US Airways flight 1077 to Phoenix and Portland, Ore., according to a criminal complaint.

During the screening process, an officer spotted a large chef’s knife in one of Alsaif’s bags, the complaint states. The knife was concealed between the outside fabric and the expandable pull handles of the bag.

Alsaif told officers a friend had given him the bag, and he was unaware of the contents. But authorities interviewed the friend, who denied owning the bag or giving it to Alsaif….

infidelsarecool

9 Muslim Passengers Removed From Jet

Officials ordered nine Muslim passengers, including three young children, off an AirTran flight headed to Orlando from Reagan National Airport yesterday afternoon after two other passengers overheard what they thought was a suspicious remark.

Members of the party, all but one of them U.S.-born citizens who were headed to a religious retreat in Florida, were subsequently cleared for travel by FBI agents who characterized the incident as a misunderstanding, an airport official said. But the passengers said AirTran refused to rebook them, and they had to pay for seats on another carrier secured with help from the FBI.

Kashif Irfan, one of the removed passengers, said the incident began about 1 p.m. after his brother, Atif, and his brother's wife wondered aloud about the safest place to sit on an airplane.

Muslim cabbies in Minn. lose round in court

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Muslim cabbies whose religious beliefs go against driving passengers who carry alcohol have lost another round in Minnesota courts.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday against the cabbies' latest attempt to block penalties from being imposed when they refuse to transport passengers because they're carrying alcoholic beverages.

An ordinance adopted by the Metropolitan Airports Commission last year revokes a cabbie's license for 30 days for refusing to pick up a passenger for any reason at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. A second refusal brings a two-year revocation.

startribune