KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A bomb-sniffing dog has detected the presence of some sort of explosives inside the vehicle of a man who walked into the Kansas City federal building and told authorities he was a terrorist.
The man entered the Richard Bolling Federal Building, 600 E. 12th Street around noon Friday.
KSHB-TV reports the Kansas City Police Department ordered the bomb and arson squad to his vehicle, located on the northeast corner of the building, near 13th and Holmes.
Authorities have closed the exit from Interstate 70 to 13th Street and have blocked off 12th and 13th streets between Cherry and Charlotte.

UPDATE:

What was reported to a bomb threat has turned out to be a big misunderstanding. Wahed Moharam, 57, a native of Egypt, created a disturbance inside the lobby by yelling something to the effect of: “Why am I on the terrorist watch list?” This caused panic amongst those in the lobby, and prompted the evacuation.

The license plate of the vehicle is registered to Wahed Moharam, who is known to many Kansas City area residents as “Helmet Man.” He was a regular attendee at Chiefs games. Many knew him as Edgar Sanchez, his alias, given to him by witness protection in 2003, after testifying in the first World Trade Center Bombings, and helped put two terrorists behind bars.

The Star reported that the suspect’s season tickets were revoked because of safety concerns in 2003.

Everything is OK,” a man identifying himself as Wahed told the newspaper. “I don’t have to tell you exactly where I am. The FBI requests me to hang up the phone, but I can assure you I’m OK and they treat me good.”

He added: “And everything mistake. Everything mistake. I didn’t have any bad thing anyway. Everything is just…thank you and God bless you and I’m OK.”

The General Services Administration initially relocated employees from sections of their downtown building as a result of the threat. Federal agencies are now sending workers home for the day.

The nearby Jackson County Jail was placed on lockdown.

Kansas City police say they are acting out of an abundance of caution.