An Arlington woman could face federal charges this week after police say they found several suspicious incendiary devices in her vehicle on Saturday night.
Kimberly "Asma" Al-Homsi, 45, is behind bars at the Arlington jail and already facing charges that include evading arrest with injury to an officer, possession of a prohibited weapon and two counts of making terroristic threats.
Her bail has been set at $210,000.
Nearly three years ago, Al-Homsi was the focus of a local and federal law enforcement crime bulletin. Investigators said she was scouting runways and planes with binoculars at Dallas Love Field with a friend.
News 8 sat down with Al-Homsi in 2007. She voiced her anger against the U.S. government and claimed to have ties to Osama bin Laden's former personal secretary, but denied being a terrorist.
"I don't like the U.S. government," said Al-Homsi in the 2007 interview. "The American people, I don't have a problem with them."
On Saturday night, police say Al-Homsi and 18-year-old Yasinul Alan Ansari led them on a chase around 5 p.m. Officers tried to stop their pickup truck after someone called 911 claiming the pair flashed a gun during a road rage incident.
Ansari is being held on charge of possession of a prohibited weapon with his bail set at $100,000.
Investigators said one of suspects stated that there was an incendiary device in the vehicle when officers were taking them into custody.
News 8 has learned that the Fort Worth Bomb Unit discovered three pipe-like items containing suspicious materials inside the truck, including a toy gun. Sources told us the suspects' homes in Arlington were also searched.
The scene is similar to one that played out in Garland five years ago, when Al-Homsi was involved in another road rage incident. At the time, police said she threatened a driver with an inert grenade. The city's bomb squad later found ammunition in her car.
After that incident, investigators kept their eye on Al-Homsi, and at one point, she was on the government's "no-fly" list. They claimed she had sniper and explosives training.
In 2007, Al-Homsi told News 8 that she was being harassed for her religious beliefs.
"If I didn't have a scarf on my head, and it was a simple road rage like that, then I would not be on the terrorist watch," she said.
Al-Homsi's run-ins with police even include a six-hour standoff in Arlington in July of 2007. Officers arrested her. They found a pipe that was made into a gun, black powder, shotgun shells, pipes and putty.
E-mail mdiaz@wfaa.com
