WAR ON TERRORISM Complete Coverage

Salam Ibrahim El Zaatari (pictured, right), 21, of Pittsburgh's Beechview section, was taken into custody without incident Sunday, WTAE-TV's Paul Van Osdol reported. El Zaatari was being held at Allegheny County Jail on $100,000 straight bond, charged with carrying a prohibited weapon.

Police said the suspect told them he was a student at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. WTAE reported that his student visa had expired and he had not attended classes since May 2000.

Art Institute President George Pry said El Zaatari had been a video production student but officially left school in December 2000 because of "pressing matters in his home country."

Police said they were not sure why El Zaatari was carrying the box cutter. Van Osdol reports that a variety of knives are sold in the Art Institute's student store, including models resembling the one El Zattari was allegedly carrying.

Several of the men who hijacked airplanes in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were armed with box cutters. FBI spokesman Bill Crowley did not say El Zaatari was a terrorist suspect, but he said their investigation was focusing on that possibility.

Heather Bull, who shares a Beechview apartment with El Zaatari, said he poses no danger. She said he was working on a documentary about the Sept. 11 tragedies in the days before his arrest.

"Salam is the most amazing man I know," Bull said. "He would never do anything to harm anyone. He has such a big heart.

"I want my roommate back. He's a good person."

Zaatari was taking a Northwest Airlines flight from Pittsburgh to Detroit. He was scheduled to stop in Amsterdam before arriving in Lebanon, where Bull said he was going to spend 6 months in the army.

The suspect passed through airport security gates undetected. However, the box cutter was found in his computer case during a random check at the gate by security officials, police said.

He was questioned by the FBI, then turned over to Immigration and Naturalization Services and taken to jail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next week.