Newsstand - Man Arrested for Concealing Boxcutters and Scissors

A Bulgarian national was arrested Sunday at New Jersey's Atlantic City International Airport with boxcutters and scissors in his backpack.

http://www.nbc10.com/news/1693046/detail.html

Man Held on Airport Weapon Charge

A Bulgarian national was arrested Sunday at Atlantic City International Airport after federal screeners found a pair of scissors embedded in a bar of soap and two boxcutters in a lotion bottle in his backpack.

Nikolay Volodicv Dzhonev, 21, was charged with possession of a prohibited weapon. Egg Harbor Township police said Dzhonev was being held on $100,000 bail.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Flight-Arrest.html

Man in Flight Arrest Pleads Guilty

A Bulgarian law student who tried to board an airplane in Atlantic City last month with two boxcutters and scissors has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge and leave the country, a prosecutor said Thursday.

He said the government doesn't believe the student had terrorist intentions.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Flight-Arrest.html

We sure showed him how serious we are about airport "security", didn't we?

USA! USA! USA!!!

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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by doc:
He said the government doesn't believe the student had terrorist intentions.</font>

What a wild goose chase! Why would a Bulgarian want to create terrorism? I'm glad that the autorities came to their senses soon enough.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Spider:
What a wild goose chase! Why would a Bulgarian want to create terrorism? I'm glad that the autorities came to their senses soon enough.</font>

This is one of the most naive statements I've seen on here to date. Why would anyone want to create terrorism? That's exactly what Timothy McVeigh did, and he was an American creating terrorism on U.S. soil.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by AS Flyer:
This is one of the most naive statements I've seen on here to date. Why would anyone want to create terrorism? That's exactly what Timothy McVeigh did, and he was an American creating terrorism on U.S. soil.</font>

I'm with you. Until someone can prove me wrong, the information we have to date is that al-Qaida infiltrated over 80 countries, and I would BET that aside from the usual suspects, Bulgaria is one such country.

There's nothing suspicious about someone boarding a plane with boxcutters? How many people do you personally know who even POSSESSES a box cutter, let alone takes it with them on airplanes, while traveling?

We are talking about suicide killers who, like Richard Reid, would not object in any way to boarding a plane and bringing it down using "any means necessary."

On a separate note, wouldn't it be interesting to do autopsies on the terrorists' cadavers to determine whether there was the presence of mind-altering drugs? Have the Israelis ever done that?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by anonplz:
There's nothing suspicious about someone boarding a plane with boxcutters? How many people do you personally know who even POSSESSES a box cutter, let alone takes it with them on airplanes, while traveling?
</font>

I own lots of boxcutters. Think exacto knife with a cheap plastic handle. And while I may have left them home pre-September 11, I certainly traveled with lots of sharp and pointy objects on my person and in my carry-on bags.

Does that make me suspicious? I don't think so. My security clearance suggests I'm not suspicious. Who people are is what makes them suspicious, not the presence or absence of sharp and pointy objects on their person or in their bags.

Half-assed security like this (as demonstrated best by Norm Mineta and his TSA) is why it might happen again. We're obsessed with checking every bag an pocket instead of checking out the potential terrorists who get on the plane.

Letting passengers carry sharp and pointy objects with them on airplanes does not increase the risk of a repeat, IMO. And further, our present paranoia about sharp and pointy objects does not reduce the risk of a repeat.

I own boxcutters, too. Very useful tool!

When flying, I usually opted for my trusty Swiss Army Knife, but boxcutters would have been useful on numerous occasions. Boxcutters DO have other uses besides cutting people. In fact, cutting people is probably near the bottom of the list of actual box cutter applications!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by anonplz:
There's nothing suspicious about someone boarding a plane with boxcutters? How many people do you personally know who even POSSESSES a box cutter, let alone takes it with them on airplanes, while traveling?
</font>



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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

Okay, confession, I happen to have a boxcutter - I guess I didn't realize how many people have them. But why would you take one with you while traveling, especially when you could simply take a steak knife or a pair of scissors (which, IMO, is NOT suspicious)?

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"I argue very well. Ask any of my remaining friends." - Dave Barry

[This message has been edited by anonplz (edited 10-10-2002).]

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/atlantic/101102NIKOLAY_O11.html

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">CAMDEN - Nikolay Volodiev Dzhonev's "bad dream," which began when he was arrested Sept. 29 while trying to bring box cutters and scissors onto a plane at Atlantic City International Airport, will end Saturday night when he flies home to Bulgaria.</font>

...

The judge said: <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> "Frankly, it is and it was a little difficult for this court to believe that, given what happened on Sept. 11 a year ago, that you wouldn't know that people would get greatly upset that you would try to bring a pair of box cutters onto a plane.

"We'll just chalk it up to terrible stupidity, which has terrible ramifications for you," </font>

I think the judge is pretty much on the ball.

If Mr. Dzhonev wanted to bring boxcutters back to Bulgaria as a novelty item, he could have packed it in his check-in luggage.

So he was either provoking the system deliberately, like the idiot kid who tried to light his shoe on an USAir flight, or completely ignorant of the news, or just plain stupid.

In either of those 3 cases, I think the government has better things to do with student visas than to issue them to someone like Dr. Dzhonev.

Given that many people have a reason to travel with a pair of scissors, most of those reasons don't require hiding the scissors in a soap bar.

Given that some people might have a reason to travel with two boxcutters, most of those reasons don't require hiding them in a lotion bottle.

And the scissors-in-soap and boxcutters-in-lotion could just as well have flown in his checked baggage.

I agree with Plato90s -- security did the right thing here.

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"Yes, but at least mine will be found in a first class seat." -- Peattie and Taylor

It turns out that neither was concealed in a bar of soap nor it a bottle of lotion.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Law Lord:
Given that many people have a reason to travel with a pair of scissors, most of those reasons don't require hiding the scissors in a soap bar.

Given that some people might have a reason to travel with two boxcutters, most of those reasons don't require hiding them in a lotion bottle.

And the scissors-in-soap and boxcutters-in-lotion could just as well have flown in his checked baggage.

I agree with Plato90s -- security did the right thing here.

</font>



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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Spiff:
It turns out that neither was concealed in a bar of soap nor it a bottle of lotion.
</font>

It's true that neither items were embedded in anything. They were simply placed inside the soapbox and in the lotion box. But the explanations didn't make any sense either.

Mr. Dzhonev has claimed he was carrying the boxcutters as a novelty item to show people in Bulgaria. But he wasn't going to Bulgaria, he was going to S. Carolina. Presumably, boxcutters are common there.

Why 2 boxcutters? They're cheap, easily obtained on the ground, and what possible reason would you have to carry 2 of them?

His other behavior was kind of suspicious too.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1631/3338278.html

"The way the items were concealed and the fact that Dzhonev had a one- way ticket bought over the Internet raised suspicions, Johnson said. He also arrived at 4:45 a.m. for the 8 a.m. flight and was the last to attempt to board.

Authorities said he was a student from Bulgaria with a summer visa allowing him to work at an Atlantic City-area convenience store. He said he bought the Spirit Airlines ticket so he could visit a friend in South Carolina. "

One-way ticket to visit a friend? How did he expect to get back to Atlantic City?

It occurs to me that the flight path from NJ to SC goes pretty close to Washington DC.

When in doubt, I think the prudent thing to do is to just flag Mr. Dzhonev's record with INS. He can stay in Bulgaria or any other country in the world. Just don't come back to the USA.