Nabbed at the Airport

A man was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after officials say they found him carrying more than $78,000 in cash and a laptop computer containing information about nuclear materials and cyanide.

Sisayehiticha Dinssa, an unemployed U.S. citizen, was arrested Tuesday after a dog caught the scent of narcotics on cash he was carrying, according to an affidavit filed in court.

When agents asked him if he had any cash to declare, he said he had $18,000, authorities said. But when agents checked his luggage, they found an additional $59,000. When they scrolled through his laptop, they said they found the mysterious files.

At a court hearing Wednesday, Dinssa was ordered held in custody until at least until Monday at the request of prosecutors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Leonid Feller argued Dinssa was a potential risk to the community and federal agents want to get a warrant to search his computer more thoroughly, The Detroit News reported Thursday. U.S. Magistrate Donald Scheer approved Feller's request to detain him.

Dinssa, who is from Dallas, arrived in Detroit from Nigeria by way of Amsterdam and was headed for Phoenix, Feller said. He is charged with concealing more than $10,000 in his luggage, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Charles at LGF notes a few things that were omitted from the AP reporting, including that he was born in Ethiopia, and that he had just spent four months in Nigeria.

He was found with quite a bit of cash for someone who was unemployed. It's going to be interesting to see what the feds dig up on this guy's laptop computer beyond what they found on the initial search.

Expect the lawyer to claim that Dinssa was doing research for a book about terrorism, which would explain why he's got information about cyanide and nuclear materials on the computer.

It's also interesting that the reports have not included the usual disclaimers about this wasn't a terrorism related incident. Could mean nothing. Could mean something.

Technorati: dinssa, dhs, tsa, detroit, terrorism.