Redondo Man Faces Charges In Bomb Scare That Shut Down Airport

REDONDO BEACH, CA — A Redondo Beach man arrested last week in connection with a hoax bomb scare that caused havoc in Miami has been ordered to undergo hospitalization for a mental evaluation.

Forty-six-year-old Anand Raja was arrested last week following a dramatic bomb scare that shut down the famed Venetian Causeway for hours and parts of Miami International Airport. Raja has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a hoax bomb.
The scare was triggered when Raja checked out of Marriott Hotel in Miami Jan. 13, leaving his luggage behind, according to the arrest affidavit.

According to CBS Miami, the luggage was considered abandoned property, and hotel staffers searched the luggage finding “metal device and three throwing knives along with what appeared to be a stick of dynamite and a battery source.”

Raja went from the hotel to Miami International Airport and then to a friend’s nearby condo where he got into an argument with a woman. When she asked him to leave “he grabbed a steak knife and pointed it at her, making movements towards her face,” according to the police report.

He fled the condo, leaving his luggage in the woman’s car and returned to the airport, where police took him into custody. As a precaution, police shut down the Venetian Causeway where Raja left his luggage and locked down the airport for several hours to check for bombs.

The case was a reminder for residents to call the police when they spot something suspicious, said investigators.

“This was great work by the Miami-Dade Police Department as well as our bomb squad unit, our detectives and our special investigation section,” City of Miami Police spokesperson Kenia Fallat told WSVN Miami. “Right now, our detectives have not just arrested him for this, but they continue to see if there is anything else that appears to have any ties to [this]. Nothing appears to be alarming, but we have charged him accordingly. Again, we can’t express enough to the community: if you do see something suspicious, don’t be alarmed. Pick up that phone and call us.”

Before his arrest, Raja posted a video on social media complaining that endured discrimination because he suffers from bipolar disorder.

His wife told Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mindy S. Glazer her husband is mentally ill, according to WSVN.

“He has been trying to come home for treatment,” she told the judge, according to WSVN. “That’s why I booked him that ticket, so he can be healthy again and be the wonderful father he has been to our 7-year-old daughter and great husband to me.”