Homemade clock that led to Texas Muslim teen’s arrest is returned

A 14-year-old Muslim boy arrested after a homemade clock he took to his Dallas-area school was mistaken for a possible bomb has gotten the item back as he and his family prepare to move to the Middle East.

Irving police said Reggie London, an attorney for Ahmed Mohamed, picked the clock up Friday. Police say the teen’s family was told Sept. 18 that the clock was ready for retrieval.

Ahmed tweeted Friday: “GOT MY CLOCK BACK FINALLY!!”

Ahmed took the clock to his high school to show a teacher Sept. 14, but another teacher thought it might be a bomb. Police ultimately chose not to charge Ahmed with having a hoax bomb.

His family said Tuesday that they’d accepted a foundation’s offer to pay for his high school and college education in Qatar and that the whole family would be moving there. He had visited Qatar during a several-week whirlwind after the incident that even included a stop at the White House.

Another attorney for Ahmed, Thomas Bowers, said Friday he was not sure when the family would be leaving for the Middle East. Neither attorney responded to calls from the Associated Press on Saturday. A spokeswoman for Ahmed said Saturday there were no further comments.

The family told the Dallas Morning News that among their reasons for leaving were verbal and written attacks they’d faced since Ahmed became a public figure.

“There is a fear of all those comments,” Ahmed’s uncle, Aldean Mohamed, told the newspaper.