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Pakistani man chooses mustache over home

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- A Pakistani man with a 30-inch mustache said he moved to Peshawar from his native town in the Khyber Agency after Islamic militants shaved him.

Malik Ameer Muhammad Afridi told The Express Tribune of Karachi his mustache has made him a minor celebrity in Peshawar. He said strangers have even let him get in line first.

Afridi, 47, who operates an electronics business, spends 30 minutes a day grooming his mustache. He sports thick hair in a straight line from his mouth that tapers into thin points curling up to his forehead on both sides.

"My mustache style is unique," he said. "It has made my tribesmen proud as no one in Pakistan has such a mustache."

But in Bara, his hometown, the mustache angered members of Lashkar-e-Islaami. They arrested him, took him to a cleric who confirmed their belief the mustache was not in accordance with Islamic law and then shaved him at gunpoint.

He has not been back to Bara for four years.

"I left my dear homeland, my friends and relatives and prepared to sacrifice all that but will not compromise my mustache," he said.

Man fishes live grenade out of lake

SPRINGFIELD, Mo., Sept. 12 (UPI) -- A Missouri man said he reeled in a sock while fishing and discovered a Vietnam-era hand grenade inside the clothing item.

Matt Tucker, a Springfield firefighter, said he was fishing for bass Tuesday morning in Fellows Lake when he reeled in the sock and discovered it contained a pineapple hand grenade with the safety pin intact, the Springfield News Leader reported Wednesday.

"I felt the weight to it and felt the ridges of the pineapple and knew what it was," said Tucker, an army veteran. "I looked at it and found it wasn't a dud -- it wasn't drilled out."

Tucker said he carefully placed the sock and its contents on some nearby rocks and reported the location to authorities.

The Springfield Fire Department bomb squad took pictures and X-ray images of the device and passed the information on to the Fort Leonard Wood Explosives Ordnance Disposal team, which arrived at 12:20 p.m.

Army Staff Sgt. Garrett Herbert retrieved the item, which he described as a "Mark 2 pineapple grenade from the Vietnam era," and it was transported to Fort Leonard Wood for disposal.

"The pin was still in it," Herbert said. "Based on the X-rays we saw, I'm going to call it armed," Herbert said.

Man tries to pay tab with bartender's card

MIAMI BEACH, Fla., Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Police in Florida said a man using a credit card to buy beer was arrested after the bartender recognized the credit card as his own.

Miami Beach police said David Weber, 53, broke into a car in a parking garage Monday night and stole a credit card that he then attempted to use at The Clevelander, a nearby watering hole, The Miami Herald reported Wednesday.

The bartender immediately recognized the credit card as his own and had security workers call police.

Weber, who police said is homeless, allegedly told officers he found the credit card on the ground. He was arrested and booked into the Miami-Dade County Jail on charges of theft and fraud.

Woman finds escaped boa in back yard

BOSTON, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Authorities in Boston said there will be a happy ending for a 4- to 5-foot boa constrictor found in a woman's back yard, when it is reunited with its owner.

Regina Okoawo said she called 911 Tuesday when her adult daughter discovered the snake in the back yard of the home where Okoawo has lived for about 25 years, The Boston Globe reported Wednesday.

"I don't like snakes," Okoawo said. "It was long and it was pretty, but I don't want to touch it."

Dot Joyce, a spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas Menino, said Animal Control officers captured the serpent and determined it was an escaped pet.

Joyce said the snake's owner called the Animal Control unit and made arrangements to retrieve the snake Wednesday.

"I've been on this property for more than 25 years, but I've never seen anything like this," Okoawo said. "I'm just glad that everything is taken care of and it's over."