An Illinois tractor-trailer driver has been charged after state police said he made a bomb threat Thursday afternoon, jamming up traffic for hours on Interstate 85 in Greenville County.
Twenty-eight-year-old Ahmad Jamal Khamees Alhendi of Oak Lawn, Illinois, is booked in the Greenville County jail on charges of breach of peace of a high and aggravated nature, conveying false information about a bomb threat and operating/permitting an unregistered vehicle, according to booking information.
At 2:45 p.m. Thursday at mile marker 44, Alhendi was stopped by State Transport Police over a missing license plate, the S.C. Department of Public Safety said in a post on X.
Public Safety said that during the stop Alhendi said there was an "explosive device" inside the tractor-trailer, leading local and state police and the FBI to shut down all six lanes of I-85 to check the vehicle.
The tractor-trailer was registered to Globe Transportation in Illinois, Public Safety said.
No device was located, and lanes were eventually reopened by 7:40 p.m.
Alhendi appeared in court Friday. His bond was set at $20,238 cash, media reported.
Greenville County booking information for Alhendi shows there's an "arrest warrant for pendency of ongoing removal proceedings."
The I-85 bomb threat comes the same week after at least 14 people were killed by an Army veteran from Texas, who drove a pickup truck through a crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year's. Federal officials are investigating the attack as an act of terrorism, and said the man was inspired by the Islamic State group.
The FBI is also investigating another Army soldier who died Wednesday inside of a Tesla Cybertruck packed with fireworks that exploded right outside of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, the FBI on Thursday released a video of a suspect who placed pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican national committee offices before Jan 6. 2021.
No one has been charged in the placing of the bombs.
In a statement, Gov. Henry McMaster said given the week's events he has met with state law enforcement for a briefing on the state's counterterrorism and public safety efforts.
We continue to pray for the victims and the families suffering from the New Orleans terrorist attack. Yesterday afternoon, I met with our state law enforcement leaders for an update and briefing on South Carolina's counterterrorism and public safety efforts in this new year. pic.twitter.com/PCf5WnwRaL
— Gov. Henry McMaster (@henrymcmaster) January 3, 2025
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
