** A Kenyan man who says he is and that he isn’t a member of Al Qaida, faces Federal Charges after making threats to blow up the St. Louis Arch! **
The man’s claim that he is a member of Al Qaida is being questioned by authorities:
Federal agents later dismissed in court any association between the man and the terrorist group. And the man, Micah A. Akumu, told agents after his arrest that he had made up the story.
Akumu, 18, was arraigned Tuesday in federal court on charges of threatening use of weapons of mass destruction and threatening use of a weapon of mass destruction against U.S. property.
Akumu first came to the attention of police when he was arrested in Collinsville for possession of a stolen vehicle on Sept. 2. He later conveyed the bomb threats to police and told them he was a member of Al Qaida.
Akumu told police he placed two bombs, each the size of a cell phone, at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in St. Louis, where he had been staying, and that he was sent here “to bring weapons to people to use in blowing up the Arch,” the indictment stated.
Akumu also told agents he delivered four bombs to unidentified persons to blow up the Arch.
A search of Akumu’s hotel room uncovered no explosives.
Akumu, who received political asylum when he came to the U.S. in 1999, later told agents he made the whole thing up to speed his deportation to Kenya.
Akuma is being ordered to undergo psychiatric tests.
