DETROIT, July 19 (UPI) -- Federal investigators Friday tried to determine what a Dearborn, Mich., man planned to do with $12 million in bogus cashier's checks stuffed into his luggage.
Omar Shishani, 47, was arrested earlier this week at Detroit Metro Airport after a flight from Indonesia. Court papers filed Thursday said customs agents found nine fake cashier's checks in his luggage, purporting to have been issued by the West America Bank of Pomona, Calif. The bank has no office there.
The documents show the checks were issued in denominations of $500,000, $5 million and $200,000. Six were dated in June and three for September.
If the checks had been real, they would have read "Official Check." The checks Shishani allegedly held read, "Cashier's Check."
Shishani is facing charges of knowingly making or possessing a forged security. He faces a possible prison term of five years. A detention hearing was scheduled for Friday.
Investigators from the Joint Terrorism Task Force said they had yet to determine Shishani's nationality. He says he is a naturalized U.S. citizen and is self-employed as a salesman. He allegedly told investigators he had yet to earn a commission this year. His wife is a resident alien from Japan and works for Northwest Airlines.
Shishani has previously lived in San Francisco and Diamond Bar, Calif.
