US national carrying knife held at IGI

NEW DELHI: American citizen Winston Marshall, who was detained on Thursday morning after a knife was found hidden in his hand-baggage at the Delhi airport, has been handed over to the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO). But no case has been registered as nothing adverse has yet been found against him.

The US national was on his way to Doha on a Qatar Airways flight early on Wednesday morning. The knife was detected after Marshall had cleared immigration. Sources say that the questioning by the Delhi Police and the Intelligence Bureau so far has not revealed any terror links.

A security officer spotted the knife when Marshall’s handbag was being X-rayed. Marshall initially denied that he was carrying a knife. The security officer then screened all the articles in Marshall’s bag again. He found a hard substance in a plastic bag, and broke it open to find a 5-inch-long knife. The knife was wrapped in a Ayurvedic substance called Shilajit, an aphrodisiac.

Winston Marshall is not a Caucasian. He converted to Islam a few years ago, and stayed at the Nizamuddin Dargah. Marshall had also travelled by road from India to Pakistan recently, crossing the Wagah border. Marshall stayed at several madarsas in Pakistan. These claims are being verified by the police and the investigative agencies.