New Delhi: An American citizen was detained
at the Indira Gandhi International airport here after a knife
was found in his hand baggage and a FBI team joined Indian
investigators to probe if he had any terror link like US LeT
operative David Headley.
Investigators were also conducting a chemical examination
of the herbal plant "Shilajit" in which 61-year-old Winston
Marshall Carmichael had allegedly concealed a knife. He
remained in detention for the second day today.
FBI officials were also questioning him and verifying
his activities back in the US, official sources said here
tonight.
Carmichael, a convert from Christianity to Islam, had a
tourist visa to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and came here
from Bangladesh. He was detained minutes before he was to
board a Qatar-bound flight last night.
He had arrived in India in the last week of January and
travelled to Pakistan in Samjauta Express where he had
attended religious congregations of Tabliq-e-Islam and went
upto Karachi before flying to Dhaka in a Pakistan
International Air flight.
Carmichael later entered India through West Bengal
and took a train to the national capital where he was staying
in a hotel at Nizamuddin.
The knife concealed in a herbal plant 'Shilajit'
and recovered by CISF from the hand baggage of Carmichael was
4.3 by 1.5 inches which is too small to be considered in
the category of a weapon, the sources said.
The Shilajit plant, as claimed by the detained US
national, had been sent for a chemical examination and a
report was awaited.
In the meantime, the Delhi Police and security agencies
were verifying his places of stay in the national capital
and travel from West Bengal.
PTI
First Published: Friday, February 12, 2010, 00:23