BOXCUTTER FLIER SET TO GO FREE

New York Post ^ | 10/02/02 | AP

[kattracks]

October 2, 2002 -- ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - He had the tools of a terrorist when he tried to board a plane. But Nikolay Dzhonev apparently was anything but.

The 21-year-old Bulgarian, arrested at an airport checkpoint with two boxcutters and a pair of scissors stashed in a bar of soap and a lotion bottle, was still being held yesterday. But prosecutors - convinced he had no sinister motive - were prepared to release him.

[kattracks]

"It was an absentminded thing that he regrets," said Christopher O'Malley, his public defender.

Oh sure, don't we all absentmindedly hide boxcutters and scisors in lotion bottles and soap bars at one time or another?

[Logic n' Reason]

Release him?? Yep! I'd release him...from the door of a Black Hawk flyin' lo and slo over Bulgaria. . . from 12,000 feet.

I figure he's man enough to fly home from there!

[HiTech RedNeck]

The incorrect information keeps getting bandied around. It was a lotion bottle BOX, and a soap DISH.

[Cindy]

Links of Interest:

"'BOXCUTTER' STUDENT HAS NO APPARENT TERROR TIES, FEDS SAY" (ARTICLE NOTE: The Bulgarian student is identified as Nikolay Volodiev Dzhonev, age 21.) (100102)

PRESS ATLANTIC CITY.com News: "SCISSORS, BOX CUTTER COULD PUT BULGARIAN IN JAIL FOR 10 YEARS" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: ""Since February, we've taken more than 25,000 box cutters from carry-ons and off of passengers. We've taken more than 500 firearms and 215,000 knives," Johnson said. There have been 700 arrests at airport security checkpoints in that period, he said.") (100102)

FOX NEWS.com (AP): "SWEDISH HIJACK SUSPECT RELEASED FROM JAIL" (ARTICLE NOTE: The suspect is identified as Kerim Chatty, age 29.)

[dyed_in_the_wool]

Er, uh, loose lips and all, but they could be tracking this dude. Right?

[Cynderbean]

That is what I hope every time they let one of these guys go.

[TongRat]

Why does anyone carry around a boxcutter?

Even if they work in a warehouse or some buisiness where one's needed-they generally don't carry them around-they are a poor choice for an edged self-defense weapon-and they can be easily purchased anywhere if one's needed to open a box.

Oh well..just curious...have a good one....

[InvisibleChurch]

i'm going to use your answer...

Oh sure, don't we all absentmindedly hide boxcutters and scisors in lotion bottles and soap bars at one time or another?

[proxy_user]

Actually, this is rather interesting. He did violate the law, and he could be prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to many years in jail. Perhaps the government does not have the nerve to enforce the law? Maybe they think it would have a negative impact on the airline industry.

Where's that congressman who complained about illegal immigrants?