A Jordanian-born man with suspected links to al-Qaida has been detained after allegedly arriving in the US with $12m (£8m) in false cheques, it emerged at the weekend.
Omar Shishani was arrested at Detroit airport last week when customs officials found the nine cheques in his baggage.
Tom Ridge, homeland security director, yesterday refused to give any details about the investigation or confirm possible links to the terrorist network. However, he said: "It's disconcerting and somewhat alarming that somebody is walking in with $12m of currency, whether it's legit or not."
The Washington Post reported that the 47-year-old Michigan resident had been placed on a watch list after his name was found on documents seized during raids in Afghanistan.
Mr Shishani, who was born into the minority Chechen community in Jordan, emigrated to the US 20 years ago. He was carrying a US passport when arrested.
Counterfeit cheques are known to be used in a range of criminal activities, not just terrorism, and FBI officials are looking for any terrorist links.
"It has alarmed a lot of people that al-Qaida may be trying to get that much money into the United States for operational purposes," the Washington Post quoted a US official as saying.
Mr Shishani, whose home - shared with his Japanese-born airline worker wife in Dearborn, Michigan - was raided last Thursday, arrived in the US on a flight from Indonesia. In Jordan his brother, Ahmad, said he had "absolutely no links at all" with any terrorist group.
Mr Shishani's detention hearing will take place on Wednesday.
· New Yorkers urged local planners at the weekend not to reconstruct buildings on the footprints of the collapsed twin towers. More than 4,000 people attended a forum to register their dislike of six proposals to develop the World Trade Centre site, which was destroyed on September 11.
