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American Morning

FBI Arrests Man Who Tried to Board Plane With Weapons

Aired November 05, 2001 - 11:11   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to go back to Washington now, and pick things up with Eileen O'Connor. If you've been with us throughout the morning, we've been tracking this story on this man who tried to board a plane in Chicago over the weekend. Stopped with nine knives packed away in his baggage. Eileen, what do you have for us?

EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest, Bill is that this man is now been arrested again last night. He was charged with two misdemeanors, which are local police charges, and a court date had been set for December 19th. He was released on bond, but we now know that the FBI picked him up again last night, and has now arrested him on another charge, a federal charge, for unlawfully taking weapons onto an aircraft. He will be arraigned today again in district court in Chicago. His name is Subash Gurung.

Mr. Gurung had -- said that he had, in fact, he had nine knives, he had a can of mace, and he also had a stun gun. Two of the knives were taken off of him at an early checkpoint. But he ended up going on with seven of the knives, and he said that they were for personnel protection. The only way they got found, in fact, was through a random bag search.

Now, the company that's in charge of security there at Chicago's O'Hare airport had already been cited by the Justice Department for a failure to comply with a court order and order background checks on its employees. Some 7 employees had been fired, according to reports. And it will be left -- we're still checking with the Justice Department in case they're going to be taking any further action against that security company.

Now as you know, as well, the other thing that the FBI and the investigation is tracking are these anthrax cases. And we now know that there are 17 confirmed cases of anthrax, that includes four people who died from the inhalation form. Six people who still remain ill from that inhalation form, they are receiving treatment. There are also seven who have the less serious cutaneous form of the disease.

Now some anthrax spores were found in two rented mailboxes at a postal facility within the Pentagon complex. Authorities are checking the mail to people who rented the boxes, but they do believe that this is case of cross-contamination. The postal facility gets its mail from the Brentwood facility, and that is the facility that handled the anthrax-laced letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle that you saw there.

Now, two workers from that Brentwood facility are among the people that died from inhalation anthrax. In addition, a tape sent to New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's office from NBC also had showed traces of anthrax. The tape sent before the anthrax-laced letter to NBC anchor Tom Brokaw was discovered. Officials believe, again, another case of cross-contamination. No one at the mayor's office has gotten ill.

HEMMER: Eileen, if I could go back to Chicago story. Nine knives, a can of mace, and a stun gun. Do we have any indication through law enforcement as to why he was ever released initially over the weekend, given the heightened concern and the tension, anxiety across the country?

O'CONNOR: No, we don't. And in fact, when we checked with the FBI, they said that was a local matter, and they would not comment any further. We're expecting a press release shortly, but that should just detail this hearing. Again, a lot of questions, really left unanswered. But we have been asking that, why he was released.

He also -- CNN has learned -- that he in fact shared -- gave an address -- on his documents that was the same address that has been used by a man already in custody as a material witness relating to the September 11th attacks. So a coincidence there that's quite disturbing.

HEMMER: Nonetheless, back in custody now. We'll see where it goes from this point. Eileen, thank you.

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