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Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2001

A federal magistrate ordered the man held without bond pending a preliminary hearing on charges he tried to board an airliner with weapons.

Subash Gurung, 27, initially was arrested Saturday and charged with two misdemeanor counts. He was released by Chicago police but later picked up by the FBI as he tried to retrieve his bags from the airport.

"It just happened out of accident, out of hurry. That's all it is," Gurang told WLS-TV.

Gurung appeared before U.S. Magistrate Morton Denlow, who on Monday ordered Gurung held without bond because he could be a flight risk. Prosecutors noted that Gurung's student visa expired in 1999 and that he was carrying a falsified Immigration and Naturalization Service employment authorization card at the time of his arrest.

Gurung has been in the United States for about three years.

During his hearing, Gurung repeatedly appeared to be having problems understanding English, despite the years he has spent in America. Denlow said efforts would be made to have a Nepalese interpreter present for Gurung's preliminary hearing Thursday.

Gurung, a slightly built man who wore a baggy orange jumpsuit, appeared intimidated by Monday's proceedings.

"I cannot concentrate very nicely here," he said. "At this moment, I find it a little difficult to concentrate."

Seven security screeners, including a supervisor, at O'Hare were fired, some reports said. According to Fox News, Chicago Department of Aviation spokeswoman Monique Bond at first said she understood the seven had been fired by their employer, Atlanta-based Argenbright Security Inc., but she said later that it was unclear whether they had been fired or suspended. At any rate, she said, they no longer had city-issued badges allowing them to work at O'Hare.

Screeners confiscated two knives Gurung had in his pocket as he passed through metal detectors but apparently missed the seven knives, stun gun and Mace that were in his carry-on bag. The items were found during a security check late Saturday as Gurung was about to board a United Airlines flight with a one-way ticket for Omaha, Neb.

Fishy Address

The check was conducted after an address he had put down triggered an alert. The address, 1025 W. Hollywood in Chicago, matches that of two men already in federal custody. Ayub Ali Khan, 51, and Mohammed Jaweed Azmath, 47, were arrested shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks en route to San Antonio, Texas. They were carrying box cutters and $5,000 in cash.

Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said it was not clear if Gurung had any contact with Khan or Azmath, or even if they were in the building at the same time.

"It is not accurate that he shared that address with those two others," Samborn said. The building's property manager, Marie Daraban, said she did not recognize Gurung's name.

An FBI affidavit described the knives in Gurung's bag as the folding kind with blades between 2 1/4 and 4 inches in length.

Gurang allegedly told investigators he had packed the weapons by mistake, unaware of rules. He said he owned the knives for his protection.

Travelers expressed shock over the incident. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said it made the case for federalizing airport security personnel stronger (despite the failure of the federal INS to protect U.S. borders).

"When you see a system like this that allows a person to come through ... there's a complete breakdown. This is unacceptable," Durbin said.

Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., called for a full investigation.

"We need to get to the bottom of it," Fitzgerald said. "Knives, a gun and Mace – I don't believe the individual's alibi, which was that it was simply 'a mistake.'"

Copyright 2001 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

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