FBI surrounds house of Saudi student after sightings of him with pressure cooker pot

- only to discover he was cooking RICE

A Saudi student living in Michigan was questioned in his home by FBI agents after neighbours saw him carrying a pressure cooker and called the police.
Talal al Rouki had been cooking a traditional Saudi Arabian rice dish called kabsah and was carrying it to a friend's house.
According to reports in a Saudi newspaper on Friday, the FBI are increasingly vigilant about 'pressure cooker' home-made bombs after the Boston bombers used one to make an explosive.

The Saudi journal, Oukaz reported on the story of the Saudi student who had FBI agents come to his home, following a tip-off from neighbours that he was seen moving about with a pressure cooker bomb.
While armed agents surrounded his apartment block, other agents, asked a 'nervous' Mr al Rouki if they could come in to question him.


'They asked me about my major, when I arrived in the US and what I do in my spare time' he told the Saudi newspaper.
Officers said that two days earlier that a woman had seen him walking out of his apartment carrying the pressure cooker pot, which was described as ‘bullet coloured’.

The young student showed them his pressure cooker and explained to them he used to make a rice dish.
An FBI agent said: 'You need to be more careful moving around with such things, Sir'

Mr al Rouki has become a focus of attention now in the Saudi press.
According to reports in a Saudi newspaper, the FBI are increasingly vigilant about ‘pressure cooker’ home-made bombs and have a keen eye on Arabs who reside in the US.

lol 'murica

"you need to be more careful moving around such things, Sir" Yes please be more careful when carrying cooking appliances around, especially when you're arab.

sauce

Please tell me that site is just another name for The Onion.


This is stupid.

I think it's even more retarded that's he's doing that right after such a big incident.

... Weren't the Boston bombers... you know... NOT Saudi Arabian? Ugh. >_>

Why.........

 Spoiler

What has rice ever done to you, America?

I think it's even more retarded that's he's doing that right after such a big incident.

yeah nah pineapple off kid.
the guy was making RICE, he wasn't trying to pretend to be a terrorist, he wasn't trying to be terrible, he got the FBI called on him because he had a goddamn pressure cooker and he was an arab. That's racist as pomegranate.

yeah nah pineapple off kid.
the guy was making RICE, he wasn't trying to pretend to be a terrorist, he wasn't trying to be terrible, he got the FBI called on him because he had a goddamn pressure cooker and he was an arab. That's racist as pomegranate.

I don't recall them treating them terribly either. They asked him why he was carrying around a recent used method to kill a bunch of people. Doesn't matter what his intention was, it's common sense that they'd respond to that. In fact the FBI would be incompetent by not responding someone "casually" carrying around a rice cooker. Don't blame those who try to protect us, but the terrorists that make us paranoid and take these necessary steps.

Don't blame those who try to protect us, but the terrorists that make us paranoid and take these necessary steps.

Akin to calling on someone having anything on a plane post 9/11. I agree. While it was a radical conclusion and an unfortunate circumstance for the kid, crying wolf after a wolf attack isn't a bad look.

I don't recall them treating them terribly either. They asked him why he was carrying around a recent used method to kill a bunch of people. Doesn't matter what his intention was, it's common sense that they'd respond to that. In fact the FBI would be incompetent by not responding someone "casually" carrying around a rice cooker. Don't blame those who try to protect us, but the terrorists that make us paranoid and take these necessary steps.

It is not common sense.
It is not at all a reasonable reaction.

He was pineappleing making lunch for a friend, and some paranoid racist pineapple called it in as a bomb threat.
The fault in NO WAY lies on this man, it lies on the pimento who called in a bomb threat to the FBI over someone with a different skin color carrying a pot around.

I can absolutely guarantee you that if it was someone they recognized carrying the pressure cooker, it wouldn't have been called in, it wouldn't have even been on the radar.

This guy was targetted.

It is not common sense.
It is not at all a reasonable reaction.

He was pineappleing making lunch for a friend, and some paranoid racist pineapple called it in as a bomb threat.
The fault in NO WAY lies on this man, it lies on the pimento who called in a bomb threat to the FBI over someone with a different skin color carrying a pot around.

Are you like reading the same thing as me? I'm not blaming the kid for what he did, but it wasn't very intelligent of him to carry around a frekin tool that was just used in the biggest media sensation of this year. If he was intelligent, he would have carried it in some type of glass container or something. If I didn't know who he was, I'd report it too, because I'd rather come off as a racist assh`ole then live with conscious of having an incident I could have flagged.

They didn't arrest him, they asked him why he had it. Nothing was blown out of proportion except this story. I suggest you calm down and take a look at a more logical than emotional perspective.

someone they recognized

Yeah because calling the police on suspicious strangers is unheard of. Not like there's people who actually ask you to report said activity.

This guy was targetted

YEAH, BECAUSE THERE WAS A WHOLE MARATHON OF PRESSURE COOKERS AND HE WAS CHOSEN RANDOMLY.

Are you like reading the same thing as me? I'm not blaming the kid for what he did, but it wasn't very intelligent of him to carry around a frekin tool that was just used in the biggest media sensation of this year. If he was intelligent, he would have carried it in some type of glass container or something. If I didn't know who he was, I'd report it too, because I'd rather come off as a racist assh`ole then live with conscious of having an incident I could have flagged.

They didn't arrest him, they asked him why he had it. Nothing was blown out of proportion except this story. I suggest you calm down and take a look at a more logical than emotional perspective.

It just pisses me off that this even made the news. Poor guy is in no way responsible for the attention that's inevitably going to be given to him.

It just pisses me off that this even made the news. Poor guy is in no way responsible for the attention that's inevitably going to be given to him.

Do you really think he's that miserable? Nothing bad happened to him and they clarified it was a false alarm, I doubt anyone cares that much.

While the article does carry some unsettling messages, the important things to note are:

According to reports in a Saudi newspaper on Friday, the FBI are increasingly vigilant about 'pressure cooker' home-made bombs after the Boston bombers used one to make an explosive.

According to reports in a Saudi newspaper, the FBI are increasingly vigilant about ‘pressure cooker’ home-made bombs and have a keen eye on Arabs who reside in the US.

and

The Saudi journal, Oukaz reported on the story of the Saudi student who had FBI agents come to his home, following a tip-off from neighbours that he was seen moving about with a pressure cooker bomb.

The FBI were just doing their job and Mr.Oukaz was just making a dish. The neighbour was also doing her duty but she could have chosen better words to use than 'bullet coloured', that's just leading people on. Oh, and if I lived here I'd certainly be alerting the cops if I saw anyone carrying rice cookers even if they weren't Arabic because that just looks suspicious no matter what the context unless I knew that pot contained nothing but rice.

The only thing that bothers me in this story is that it took the FBI two days to respond.

Oh, and if I lived here I'd certainly be alerting the cops if I saw anyone carrying rice cookers even if they weren't Arabic because that just looks suspicious no matter what the context unless I knew that pot contained nothing but rice.

If the boston bombing had never happened you wouldn't even think to make that call.
its a fucking pressure cooker.

you could honestly make something better with galvanized pipe.

If the boston bombing had never happened you wouldn't even think to make that call.
its a fucking pressure cooker.

you could honestly make something better with galvanized pipe.

If something like that happened it would be worth a check regardless of who's carrying the pressure cooker. Basically it's something unusual to be carried about, it's linked to a previous attack and a quick check-up on the situation is still better than people not calling on authorities to check up on it or rumours getting out of hand such as 'Hey, I saw that Arabian guy carrying a pressure cooker, he might be planning something!' That could lead to people taking matters into their own hands and it would have been worse for Mr. Oukaz then, seeing that the person who reported him was already using loaded words to describe what she saw.

And now I'm paranoid about making rice

And now I'm paranoid about making rice

There should be no paranoia around making rice. You normally don't carry around pressure cookers for no reason, and they are really easy to make as well. If I see anyone carrying around a pressure cooker without a certain reason I can see, I'm going to call some law enforcement.

I don't recall them treating them terribly either. They asked him why he was carrying around a recent used method to kill a bunch of people. Doesn't matter what his intention was, it's common sense that they'd respond to that. In fact the FBI would be incompetent by not responding someone "casually" carrying around a rice cooker. Don't blame those who try to protect us, but the terrorists that make us paranoid and take these necessary steps.

Akin to calling on someone having anything on a plane post 9/11. I agree. While it was a radical conclusion and an unfortunate circumstance for the kid, crying wolf after a wolf attack isn't a bad look.

Damn you all need a lesson in Racial Privilege 101. This typically manifests as white privilege, but in this case most anyone (well, men) who doesn't "resemble" the ethnicity of the Tsarnaev's (or Middle Eastern men, given the country's continued overanxiety towards such racial descent) is more likely to be targeted by paranoid citizens who assume anyone that fits that narrow, prejudiced visual bill is a prospective terrorist, regardless of their actual actions.

For example, if I was walking around with the same pressurized cooker pot, the chances of someone calling the FBI on me would be slim to none. In fact, with families visiting for Mother's Day this weekend, I'd bet TONS of people around the country, from all races and walks of life, were transporting pressurized cooker pots filled with wonderful food to share with their families. So why weren't they stopped?

Because they weren't of Eastern European/Middle Eastern descent. Because they weren't walking alone, like Oukaz. And because - and here's the kicker - they weren't 18-24, the same age range of students as the Tsarnaevs. Because Oukaz simply embodied these three physical and behavioral characteristics at this time, he was stopped and questioned. But none of them merit such a response.

It also bothers me a lot of you say you'd stop anyone carrying a similar pot who looked "shady" with it, or "without a certain reason you can see." Cooker Pots 101: they typically have lids on them to like PROTECT THE RICE, so how are you going to tell from a distance what is a "certain reason" or not? Are you just going to call the cops on anyone skulking around with a pot? Because I'm sure even if I made it look like I was surreptitiously creeping with one, I wouldn't be stopped. And the argument doesn't even work in this case, because Oukaz was actually using it to make rice to actually serve his friends.

Plus he's a student - he's a smart guy. Where in the article does it state he was shadily transporting this cooker? By the look and logic of the situation, Oukaz was probably walking quite normally with the pot as he was getting ready for dinner with his friends. So please explain to me how in this situation you could have determined he was carrying it around "without a certain reason you can see."

The "certain reason" you all claim to see is that he's a Middle Eastern student, you racist pimentos.

tl;dr if you claim to call "wolf" after a "wolf attack," then call it on every person carrying a cooker rice pot for whatever purpose, not solely a Middle Eastern student walking alone with one to serve his friends some goddamn rice.

if someone beat someone to death with a toolbox would you call the police on everyone you see carrying a toolbox around.