Bomb website surfer arrested in Florida
Florida police evacuated a public library and arrested a Briton who was using a computer to look at bomb-making Websites after officials said they found suspicious liquids in his backpack.
Nigel Gates, 45, from London, was charged yesterday with obstructing justice.
He was being held today at Charlotte County Jail on immigration violations.
Gates’s visa expired 11 years ago and he gave a false name during questioning, according to police records.
Lieutenant Jason Ciaschini, police spokesman in Punta Gorda, where Gates was held, said he had told officers the liquids were paint thinner and jewellery cleaner that he used to clean cars.
Authorities said the chemicals did not appear to be hazardous, but they were still being identified.
Investigators seized the hard drive on the computer Mr Gates used as evidence.
Ciaschini said it was not a crime to look at bomb-making Websites and it was unlikely that Gates would face any other charges.
‘‘Looking up stuff on the Internet everybody has freedom to do that,’’ he said.
