A resident of the north German town of Heide got scared Thursday. The reason for their concern was that they felt their 19-year-old Syrian refugee neighbor had an AK-47 (Kalashnikov) rifle in his home. They called the police, who promptly arrested him. But then all they found was a shisha (water pipe for tobacco) device. The man was then released.

German media covered the remarkable story. The reason for the mixup was the man’s shisha device was apparently designed like an AK-47–not an uncommon design in the Arab world. The neighbor, however, thought it to be the infamous gun, and thus called the police. When the police searched the house, they quickly became aware that the shisha device was not a gun.

Several Arabic-language outlets covered the story as well. Be careful with your shisha, kids.

AL