FBI Press Release
Atlanta Field Office
Gregory Jones, Special Agent in Charge

Contact: SA Stephen Emmett
Desk: (404) 679-6451
Cell:  (404) 392-2506

For Immediate Release
Wednesday, June 7, 2006

Atlanta – Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Gregory Jones, FBI Atlanta, announces the arrest today of Saleh Nasser Al Suwailem, age 45, of Boise, Idaho, on federal charges related to making terrorist threats to blow up an airplane.

Al Suwailem, a Saudi national who was undergoing training as a language translator at Ft. Benning, was arrested on a complaint signed by a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Middle District of Georgia, Columbus, Georgia, charging him with Making Terrorist Threats to blow up an airplane. It is alleged in the complaint that Al Suwailem uttered the threat to another Ft. Benning staff member, stating that he would carry out the threat on a flight that he was scheduled for the following evening. Al Suwailem was taken into custody without incident by Special Agents of the FBI, Columbus Resident Agency.

Al Suwailem was taken before a United States Magistrate in Columbus, Georgia, where he was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

This investigation is being conducted by the FBI, Columbus Resident Agency. The Muscogee County Sheriff's Department, the Metro Narcotics Task Force, comprised of Columbus Police Officers and the Drug Enforcement Administration assisted in the arrest of Suwailem.

The public is reminded that all persons are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.