According to a foreign news agency, the records of the Corrections Department stated that 24-year old Jhanzaib Malik, is is currently spending his vacation on Rikers Island jail complex on $100,000 bail.
Authorities stated that Malik claimed that a bomb is in the suitcase when he got frustrated with the check-in process.
However, Malik’s lawyer Roger Asmar claimed that his client only referred to his luggage used the word bomb to impress the female concierge. He added that the incident was discrimination against Pakistanis.
“The FBI checked the whole thing, and cleared him and leaves, and yet he still gets arrested,” Asmar said. “Now, this poor kid is sitting in jail. It’s ridiculous. its discrimination against Pakistanis”, Asmar said.
Jhanzaib’s uncle Javed said that his nephew was saving money for the past year to make the trip.
“When he got the visa he was really happy to go to America. He wanted to celebrate New Year’s Eve at Times Square. He believes America has a lot of positivity. He phoned today and he was crying. He doesn’t know what is happening to him”, Malik said.
Asmar also said that Jhanzaib reached New York on Monday to spend 10 days sightseeing with a friend from Boston
“He’s having a friendly conversation with the concierge, kind of flirting with her, charming her. He’s doing what any 24-year-old would do. He was showing off that he had money. He wanted to go out with her”, Asmar added.
The lawyer stated that Malik requested the hotel’s concierge agreed to hold the money while he went to have breakfast. After he returned from his breakfast, the hotel concierge returned him he money and asked him to be seated.
The police arrived at the scene and took him into their custody. He added that his phonebook and Facebook details were checked by the law enforcement agencies after being shifted to a police building.
He was produced before the Brooklyn Criminal Court and was charged with two counts of falsely reporting an incident.
Jhanzaib was taken to Rikers Island prison complex where Asmar claimed that he was harassed by other inmates.
