Police detained two men at a Midtown hotel late Friday after a doorman reported they possessed a pair of pressure cookers like those used to make the Boston Marathon bombs.
But the men say it was a misunderstanding: They plan to use the pressure cookers to prepare rice, chicken and meat.
Mohammad Alotaibi, 21, and Ayoub Alawadhi, 20, pulled up to the InterContinental Hotel on East 48th Street late Friday with the pressure cookers in their car’s trunk, said law enforcement sources.
A doorman called Crimestoppers, and NYPD counterterrorism and intelligence officers arrived to question the men.
Police did not charge the pair, who are both Idaho residents.
“The police questioned us for three hours. It was a little scary,” said Alawadhi. “I am leaving New York because of this. We were supposed to stay until Tuesday, but we are leaving Sunday.”
Alawadhi said they bought the pressure cookers at an Arab supermarket in Dearborn, Michigan.
It took a while for them to figure out why the cops were questioning them, he said.
“They said they found the pressure cookers. I said, ‘Yes, what’s wrong with that?’” Alawadhi recounted.
“They said, ‘You haven’t heard about Boston?’ And I said ‘No.’ And they told me about Boston.”
Alawadhi said he and Alotaibi are students, and that they just completed summer classes at a Michigan university.
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