Two Saudi men arrested for boarding school bus to Wharton High School

Tampa, Florida — Two men from Saudi Arabia were arrested today after they boarded a public school bus taking students to Wharton High School, the sheriff’s office reported.

Mana Saleh Almanajam, 23, and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran, 20, both of Tampa, were charged with trespassing on school grounds as unlawful riders on a school bus.

Deputies say the two boarded the bus at a regular bus stop at Fletcher Avenue and 42nd street. Deputies said the bus driver and the students saw them and became concerned by their presence. The driver notified her supervisors who, in turn, called authorities.

A sheriff’s deputy met then at Wharton High school and charged with them with trespassing.

In what looks to me to be a case of true stupidity, a couple of Saudis in the US to study English put themselves on the wrong bus and got themselves in a lot of trouble. This report–from Tampa, FL TV Station WTSP, just up the road from me–reports that the Saudis gave false information when they were confronted. By saying that they were Moroccan, rather than Saudi, I’m betting they thought that might buy them a little slack.

It didn’t. And they need to realize, too, that Moroccans are pretty high up on the “suspect list”. I sincerely doubt there was anything more than looking for an easier English language course and not having much of a clue behind this.

Those American bloggers who are inclined to go overboard in commenting on this have, indeed, gone truly overboard. It’s too bad that there’s so much stupidity in the world, but it does seem to be evenly distributed…