INS: Egyptian man carrying boxcutters arrested at Miami airport

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Posted 8:40AM on Monday, April 1, 2002

MIAMI - An Egyptian man who was deported earlier this year was arrested on immigration charges after he arrived in Miami on a flight from Spain, carrying boxcutters in his briefcase, authorities said. Aly Sabra Galal Abdell, 29, was arrested Friday night as he arrived at Miami International Airport on Iberia Airlines Flight 6123 from Spain, said Patricia Mancha, a spokeswoman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Miami. The man was stopped by inspectors after they ran his name and found he had been deported in January by a New York immigration judge. He had arrived in the country just before the Sept. 11 attacks. A search of the suspect's briefcase, which he carried aboard the plane, turned up the boxcutters, officials said. Federal officials have banned passengers from carrying small blades, including boxcutters. "We're in the process of reviewing the matter for criminal charges," said Aloyma Sanchez, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami. He was being held Sunday on immigration law violations. Staff members at both the Egyptian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the Spanish Consulate in Miami said no one was available to comment Sunday. An Iberia Airlines supervisor at the airport said Flight 6123 landed in Miami without incident Friday, but she had no other information. The hijackers used boxcutters in the Sept. 11 hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.