Australian Man Headed to Court in Threat Case

An Australian man who was briefly mistaken for a man on the terrorist watchlist and detained on $100,000,000 bail is still facing criminal charges in Northampton County.

Ali Abbas was ordered to stand trial for a terroristic threat charge following a preliminary hearing Thursday.

The Express-Times reports that Abbas testified from Australia, via teleconference.

According to Easton police, Abbas, 32, called attorney Raymond Lahoud on Wednesday—Sept. 11—and threatened to “take his sister’s kids out” and “blow her house up.”

At a little after noon the next day, Abbas showed up at Lahoud’s S. Seventh Street office unannounced looking to speak to him, police said. Lahoud told police that “he felt extremely threatened by” Abbas, court papers say.

When Easton police arrested Abbas, a criminal background check revealed that his name is very similar to someone who is on the FBI’s list of potential terrorists.

Arraigned on two misdemeanor counts of terroristic threats and two summary counts of harassment before on-duty District Judge James Narlesky in Hanover Township, bail was set at a whopping $100 million.

But when authorities ran Abbas' fingerprints, they discovered he was not the person on the list. At a bail hearing, Abbas was released on his own recognizance, and later allowed to return to Australia.