A 56-year-old US national was detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here in the early hours of Wednesday after the Central Industrial Security Force personnel detected a four-inch long blade in his baggage. After being questioned by intelligence officials, he has been kept at the Lampur detection centre in Outer Delhi.
Winston Marshall Carmichael was on his way to board a Doha-bound Qatar Airways flight around 3-30 a.m. when during the X-ray screening of his baggage the CISF personnel noticed some sharp object in it. They asked him if he had kept a knife in the bag, but he denied. A second screening led the personnel to manually search the bag, in which they found a sharp cutter concealed in a “shilajit” herb packet.
Winston purportedly disclosed that he had procured the herb from outside India. His passport records revealed that he had entered India on a tourist visa twice since last October. During his visit, he went to Pakistan via Wagah border where he stayed for about a fortnight. He had also been to Dhaka by road from Kolkata.
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As his travel itinerary raised suspicion about his antecedents, CISF handed him over to the airport police for further inquiry. Subsequently he was interrogated by intelligence officials to ascertain the motive behind his visits to the three Asian countries.
During interrogation, Winston purportedly disclosed that he lived in New York along with his family. He had converted from Christianity to Islam about 15 years ago. He has three wives and 19 children, said an officer. He revealed that during his stay in the Capital, he had stayed at a place in Hazrat Nizamuddin in South-East Delhi.
Winston was handed over to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office reportedly after his preliminary questioning did not reveal anything incriminating. “No case has been registered against him as legally the blade seized from him is too small to be considered as a weapon,” said a police officer.
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Through an FRRO order, Winston’s movements have been restricted to the Lampur centre pending further directions from competent authorities. It is learnt that the Indian agencies have contacted their US counterparts to verify his background and crosscheck his disclosures.