India Native Arrested in Houston Airport on Weapons Charge Out on Bail

UPDATE: The judge lowered the bail to just $5,000. The Times of India reports that Kumar is, "an activist film-maker traveling in America to expose Islamic 'terrorism'."

Prosecutors seem to be satisfied with this and agreed to a plea with time served for the brass knuckles. Kumar said the weapon was for his protection from Islamic fundamentalists. He claims the jihadist materials were "educational tool" used for his lecture to the Hindu Congress of America involving, "interfaith discussion between Hindus and Muslims about the harms of terrorism."

However, no explanation was given for Kumar having over $10,000 in undeclared money.

At the end of the article, The Times of India notes: "The US is going through another mild bout of Islamophobia following the controversy over building a mosque close to the 9/11 ground zero."

Yeah, I'm sure if terrorists from the US bombed one of your temples, you'd have NO PROBLEM with us coming over 10 years later and wanting to erect a Christian CHURCH near the site.

And how's that Kashmir thing going?

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Kudos to the Houston airport security screeners who pulled this man out for a second screening. But are sharp screeners going to do any good when judges set BAIL for potential terrorists?

Screeners became suspicious when a FOREIGN NATIONAL from Mumbai, India was acting nervous as he stood in the security checkpoint line at Houston's Intercontinental Airport. Vijay Kumar, 40, was said to be fidgeting and sweating profusely. Security pulled him out of line to give a more thorough screening. I know--wow--it's almost like they'd been trained in Israeli security measures!

They found a set of brass knuckles in his checked baggage, which produced a felony charge of Possessing a Prohibited Weapon in a Prohibited Place. Other items found were books on espionage, bomb-making/disarmament and other, radical Muslim publications, plus over $10,000 in cash, which allegedly had not been declared as required.

Will we end up needing
Dog the Bounty Hunter?

Kumar told police that he had attended an "Islamic seminar." However, despite all that effort by law enforcement, a judge set BAIL for Kumar at $50,000. What many don't realize is using a bail bondsman only requires putting 10% down which covers their fee. The bail bondsman pays the bail. Now if you skip bail, the bondsman can come after you ala Dog the Bounty Hunter, but that's not going to be a problem for someone planning to skip across the open U.S. border and get back home to India via another country

Hint to Judge: Terrorists have LOTS of money so $50K bail is chump change. And a foreign national is hardly going to have ties keeping him in the U.S. Update: Local Houston Fox reported tonight that Kumar is out on bail.

Another troubling aspect is there's almost no reporting on this. Even the report that Kumar made bail was mentioned in passing as if it was no big deal that someone with books on bomb making made bail and could be anywhere.