Man arrested for airport al-Qaida joke

BOSTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A Washington taxi driver faces a criminal charge because he joked about being a member of al-Qaida to an airline worker in Boston.

Ermiyaf A. Asfaw, an Ethiopian national, was returning to Washington from a visit to his girlfriend Saturday when an Air-Tran check-in employee asked him about stickers on his luggage from Dubai. He told her he had been in the United Arab Emirates.

"No. I'm al-Qaida. I'm with them, and I'm here to blow things up," he said when she asked if it had been a trip for business or pleasure.

Asfaw has been charged with making a false bomb threat. A judge set bail Monday at $1,500.

"This airport is not going to tolerate this type of behavior," said Phil Orlandella, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority. "This type of action is completely dumb."