CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago police on Thursday morning arrested one of the 11 Egyptian students who were wanted for failing to show up for an exchange program in Montana.
At 8 a.m., about four hours after heightened security restrictions went into effect following a foiled terror plot in Britain, a man at the Delta terminal at O’Hare International Airport tried to use a ticket to go to Bozeman, Montana, but his ticket was out of New York rather than Chicago, police Supt. Philip Cline said at a news conference.
A disturbance then ensued. “He was raising his voice for the level for the counter agent to call for the police officer to come over,” Cline said.
A Chicago police officer came to the scene and ran the man’s name in a federal database. The man, Ahmed Abou El Ela, 21, was found to be one of the missing Egyptian students, Cline said.
Abou El Ela was taken into custody and turned over to federal authorities.
Authorities began searching for the 11 Egyptian students after they arrived in the United States last month, but failed to show up for an exchange program at Montana State University.
Two other students were arrested Thursday in suburban Baltimore. Three more were arrested on Wednesday -- one in Minnesota and two in New Jersey. The other six arrived as planned at the Montana school.
The Egyptian men were among a group of 17 students who arrived in New York from Cairo on July 29 with valid visas, according to U.S. authorities and university officials.
The missing students pose no terrorism threat, FBI officials said.
E-Mail Story
Print Story
