Police arrest man who threatened Obama in email

WASHINGTON, USA (AFP) — An armed man was arrested in the western United

States on Tuesday for allegedly sending an email that threatened

President Barack Obama, a justice official told AFP.

"He had sent

an emailed threat against the president," said Emily Langlie, a

spokeswoman for the US Attorney's Office in Washington state, confirming

that the man was detained at a suburban apartment in Seattle.

"When

the Secret Service and local police went to his apartment to

investigate, they discovered that he was armed, he was taken into

custody without incident."

Law enforcement officers were

searching the house for weapons and suspicious material, Langlie said,

but she did not comment on the nature of the alleged threat, noting that

further information would be released today.

ABC News affiliate

KOMO reported on its website that two weapons were confiscated and that a

bomb unit was called in "out of an abundance of caution."

Obama, who was campaigning in the state of Ohio on Tuesday, has previously been the subject of threats.

In

one such case, a man named Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez was accused of

shooting at the White House last November. He was subsequently charged

with the attempted assassination of the president.

Obama and his wife Michelle were in California at the time of the incident, and no one was injured.