Feb. 19, 2005
By Alex Branch and Bryon Okada, Staff Writers
Star-Telegram, Fort Worth
The bag of a Sansom Park man who was arrested at a Detroit airport this week after saying he was headed for Syria to try to claim the $25 million bounty for Osama bin Laden set off security alarms at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport on Tuesday, a transportation security official said Friday.
Inside Matt Mihsen's bag, D/FW screeners found a stun gun, pepper spray, two boxes of Black Talon 9 mm ammunition, a bulletproof vest and three Geiger counters.
None of the items is banned from checked luggage, so they were inspected for explosive residue and repacked, and the bag was placed on Mihsen's Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit, said Andrea McCauley, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration.
However, the items, combined with the knowledge that Mihsen, 47, was traveling abroad prompted screeners to notify federal authorities and alert Detroit Metro Airport that Mihsen was on his way, McCauley said.
Before he boarded an international flight from Detroit to the Netherlands en route to Syria, customs and border protection officers pulled Mihsen aside for questioning, according to an affidavit for his arrest.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained him after he denied carrying a large amount of cash. He was found to be carrying $13,756, the affidavit states.
Mihsen faces charges of lying to federal investigators, attempting to smuggle bulk cash out of the United States and attempting to export goods and money to Syria in violation of a presidential order.
The third charge, the most serious, carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on conviction.
Mihsen, who also goes by the name Assef Mihsen, was born in Syria and is a naturalized U.S. citizen.
Friday morning, agents with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force searched Mihsen's home, an old one-story house with a miniature American flag over the door.
FBI spokeswoman Lori Bailey said information about what authorities were looking for is sealed.
"Most people just think of him as a nice guy," said neighbor Samantha Daniels. "He helped us with some work in the yard."
According to the Detroit arrest-warrant affidavit, Mihsen told federal agents that he is vice president of Alleges Protective Services and that he planned to investigate the illegal sale of uranium by extremists in and around Syria.
State records show that Alleges was incorporated in Texas in 1999 with Mihsen listed as the registered agent.
Mihsen said the devices in his bag were bait for uranium smugglers. He also said he hoped to collect $25 million for capturing bin Laden, the affidavit states.
Some of the devices violated an executive order signed by President Bush on May 11 that prohibits the export of certain goods to Syria, including Black Talon ammunition, bulletproof vests and Taser stun gun devices, without first obtaining the appropriate license, permit or authorization from the secretary of state.
Those items are not necessarily banned from domestic flights, though there are differences in what is allowed on international flights.
"In the United States, the Constitution allows people to bear arms, and if you need to transport them, it would be the airline that would impose requirements," said David Forbes, president of BoydForbes aviation security analysts in Evergreen, Colo.
Mihsen's neighbors said they never saw him with weapons. They said Mihsen drove a 1984 Mercedes-Benz, traveled often and said he was a pilot for FedEx.
A FedEx spokesman said Friday that Mihsen worked as a package handler more than a year ago. He would not comment further.
According to Federal Aviation Administration records, Mihsen was licensed to fly a multiengine airplane.
Sansom Park police said they have no record of any dealings with Mihsen. A check of court records shows no criminal history in Tarrant County.
Mihsen's ex-wife, Victoria Shackleford, said she spoke to him on Feb. 10 when he said he was returning to Syria to visit his mother, who is ill.
She learned of his arrest when the FBI appeared at her doorstep Wednesday morning.
"I don't have any clue what he was doing," Shackleford said. "I don't think he is a terrorist, I just think he was being stupid."
She and Mihsen married in 1987 when he was here on a student visa working on his pilot's license at a flight school at Meacham Airport, she said. He also managed a convenience store, she said.
Shackleford said Mihsen often looked for ways to make quick money. Since they divorced in 1992, she said, she has rarely seen him. She said she never heard him talk about Osama bin Laden.
She said she didn't know anything about his security business.
"I'm just completely shocked by all of this," she said. "I was married to him 13 years ago and now the FBI is asking me questions."
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/local/10942792.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp&1c