A translator with ties to Fort Benning is under arrest, charged with threatening to blow up a Delta Airlines plane. The FBI and Columbus police made the arrest Tuesday. 45 year old Saleh Nasser Al Suwailem is being held in the Muscogee County jail. He was arrested around 1 pm Tuesday at Titan Linguist Operation & Technical Support on Veterans Parkway. Authorities say the Saudi national told someone he wanted to blow up an airplane after being denied a job as an interpreter for US military operations in Iraq. The Muscogee County Sheriff's Department sent bomb dogs to sniff his luggage, but they didn't detect anything. Sheriff's Captain Joe McCree says Al Suwailem was already being watched. "I was told he had been placed on the FBI watch list for terrorist because he has been flagged for his numerous trips in and out of the country," McCree tells News Leader 9. The suspect says he was only making a joke while having some drinks. He's due to appear in federal court next week.