EXCLUSIVE: Man Tailgated Into CIA Headquarters at 1 A.M. With a Box of 'White Tubing and Wires,' Prompting a Bomb-Squad Lockdown, Affidavit Obtained by TDFP Shows
A Kentucky man drove a rental SUV through the badge barrier at CIA Headquarters around 1 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 11, by tailgating an authorized car, and officers who stopped him found a large box in the back seat with "white tubing and wires" running toward the trunk, setting off a lockdown and a call for bomb technicians, according to a sworn affidavit by a CIA Police officer filed in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
UPDATE (Oct. 15, 4 PM ET): The preliminary and detention hearing scheduled for Thursday afternoon was continued to Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. EDT, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia told TDFP. Abubakar will remain in custody pending that hearing.
The driver, identified in the filing as Mohamed Nureni Abubakar, told officers the box was a "scanner" and that he had driven 12 hours from Kentucky "to speak to someone at the CIA about employment," the affidavit says. Once the scene was cleared of potential explosives, he failed a field sobriety test, and officers found a bag of marijuana in the driver's door. He was charged with a single count: simple possession of a controlled substance under 21 U.S.C. 844(a), a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison.
The case, United States v. Abubakar, No. 1:26-mj-00408, was filed Oct. 12 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. TDFP found no prior public reporting of the incident. The U.S. Attorney's Office told The Digital Free Press on Thursday that Abubakar was being held under a temporary order of detention and that a preliminary and detention hearing was set for Thursday afternoon.
HOW A RENTAL SUV GOT PAST THE CIA HEADQUARTERS KIOSK
The affidavit was sworn by CIA Police Officer Miguel Lugo, a former Austin, Texas, police officer and Marine who joined the CIA Police in 2025. It describes the layout of the entrance: after business hours and on weekends, drivers headed for the main gate are diverted to the Visitor Control Center (VCC), about 1,100 feet inside CIA property, where a kiosk with a badge reader, camera and microphone controls a barrier into the VCC parking lot. Officers confirm a scanned badge is valid, then lift the barrier.
"At approximately 1:00 a.m. on October 11, 2026, officers observed a vehicle approach the VCC kiosk," Lugo wrote. "Officers allowed entry to the first vehicle after the driver scanned validated credentials. However, officers observed via the camera system that a black Buick Envision SUV (SUV) followed immediately behind the first vehicle, gaining unauthorized access to the VCC parking lot."
Inside the lot, Lugo wrote, the SUV pulled parallel to and left of the lead vehicle, crossing marked parking spaces "in what appeared to be an attempt to pass the authorized vehicle." When officers approached, the SUV stopped abruptly and the driver got out "without prompting, leaving the front driver's side door open." Officers ordered him to kneel; he "was hesitant to obey verbal commands but ultimately complied." As Lugo handcuffed him, he noticed an odor of marijuana.
THE BOX IN THE BACK SEAT
"Additional officers observed through the SUV's open door and windows what appeared to be a large box in the backseat," the affidavit says. "The box contained white tubing and wires extending out, threaded between the second-row seats in the direction of the trunk. Officers then established a perimeter around the vehicle, repositioned vehicles to provide cover, locked down the area, and bomb technicians were dispatched to the scene for a possible improvised explosive device."
Officers frisked the driver "to determine if a remote initiation device was on his person," the affidavit says. They found a cell phone, AirPods and a lighter.
After being read his rights, the driver, whose "demeanor cycled between cooperative, evasive, and belligerent," had no license or identification on him, Lugo wrote. He gave the name Mohamed Abubakar and a phone number registered to the same name, "described the box in his vehicle as a scanner, and stated that he had driven 12 hours from Kentucky to speak to someone at the CIA about employment." The affidavit does not say what the box turned out to be beyond noting that the scene was cleared of potential explosives.
Lugo wrote that the driver's pupils were constricted, and once the scene was cleared he began standard field sobriety tests. The driver failed the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, then "refused to cooperate with instructions and became increasingly agitated," so no further tests were done and he was placed in a cruiser. Searching the SUV before it was towed, officers found rolling papers near the gear shift and a plastic bag of a green leafy substance in the driver's door that field-tested as marijuana. The Buick's plate came back to a business "consistent with a rental company."
PRIOR KENTUCKY CONVICTIONS, INCLUDING TERRORISTIC THREATENING
A records check, according to the affidavit, showed Abubakar was charged in Kentucky on or about Dec. 23, 2025, with possession of marijuana and second-degree wanton endangerment and was convicted of both. On March 3, 2026, he was found guilty of terroristic threatening in the third degree under Kentucky law and sentenced to 365 days in jail with 355 days suspended, which meant he was on unsupervised release when he drove onto CIA property.
Despite the bomb-squad response and that record, the only charge in the complaint is the marijuana count. U.S. Magistrate Judge Ivan D. Davis attested the affidavit by telephone on Oct. 12.
WHAT PROSECUTORS SAID
TDFP asked the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia why Abubakar was charged only with simple possession, whether additional charges are being considered, whether he was detained and when his next court date is. Public Affairs Officer Scottie Howell replied Thursday morning, attaching a copy of a temporary order of detention:
"Please find attached a copy of the temporary order of detention. A preliminary and detention hearing is scheduled for today at 2pm EDT before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lindsey R. Vaala in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria Courtroom 501. At this time, we respectfully decline further comment."
The outcome of Thursday's hearing was not available on the court's public docket at publication time. This story will be updated.
Sources: Affidavit in Support of a Criminal Complaint, United States v. Abubakar, No. 1:26-mj-00408 (E.D. Va., filed Oct. 12, 2026), via CourtListener, https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.608079/gov.uscourts.vaed.608079.2.0.pdf; CourtListener docket, https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74950529/united-states-v-abubakar/; email from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia to TDFP (Oct. 15, 2026).
Images: Cover is an aerial photo of CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, by Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress (public domain). The in-post graphic quotes the affidavit. Graphic: The Digital Free Press.
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