Bad Book

Not the good book. A Yemeni man was arrested after TSA officers found a knife "artfully" concealed inside a book. The man, who had bought a one way ticket to Yemen despite being a legal US resident living in Michigan with his family, said he had no idea how the knife got there. He told authorities he was going to Yemen to get married. With that one way ticket, of course.

Mohammed Ghanem, 21, of Hamtramck, was jailed Saturday on $500,000 after being arraigned on a charge of possessing a weapon in the sterile area of an airport.

Ghanem was arrested Thursday at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after Transportation Security Administration officers detected the knife "artfully concealed" in the book, airport spokesman Michael Conway said.

Someone had carved out the inside of the book and placed the knife inside it, said Ghanem's attorney, Nabih Ayad.

"He said he didn't know where the knife came from," Ayad told the Detroit Free Press.

Sounds like a perfectly valid excuse. I have often found people excavating my books to hide things inside them. That's exactly how I acquired the crown jewels of England, in fact. Oh, and I have some really nice real estate in Florida if anyone's interested in buying it.