St. Louis: Kenyan to be charged for threat to bomb Gateway Arch

He says he was with Al-Qaeda. It now seems that he just has a grandiose streak, and perhaps a tenuous connection to reality. But does he hold to the ideology of Al-Qaeda? And do others in America as well? Would he have eventually acted upon those convictions? Can the U.S. afford to gamble that he wouldn't? "Kenyan faces charges for Arch bomb threat: Told police he was with al-Qaida," from the Belleville News-Democrat, with thanks to Cindy:

A Kenyan immigrant who claimed to be a member of the terrorist group Al Qaida faces federal charges after federal agents say he threatened to bomb the Gateway Arch.

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....

On April 11, Akumu was arrested in San Antonio for retail theft. He told FBI agents that he threatened to bomb La Miranda High School in Anaheim, Calif., because he didn't like the principal.

Akumu further told agents he planned to hijack a Northwest Airlines flight from Minneapolis to London.