UAE man arrested in Melbourne on ammunition charge

A 25-year-old man from the United Arab Emirates living in a Melbourne hotel for nearly two months on an expired student visa was arrested on a federal ammunitions charge after federal authorities acted on a tip from a Melbourne police officer.

Hamid Mohamed Ahmed Ali Rehaif, a one-time mechanical engineering student at Florida Institute of Technology, was charged Wednesday with possession of ammunition by an unlawful or illegal alien in a case investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations office in Cocoa Beach. The FBI was also involved.

Rehaif was booked into federal custody and is set to appear Monday before a federal judge in U.S. District Court in Orlando.

Federal agents said Rehaif arrived in Florida in 2013 on a student visa. He enrolled at Florida Tech in Melbourne but was "terminated as a student," in fall 2014, according to federal authorities. The college, contacted by FLORIDA TODAY, said Rehaif was no longer a student after the fall 2014 term.

"He was academically dismissed at the conclusion of the fall 2014 term. Shortly thereafter, per university procedure and federal protocol, the university reported to authorities that Rehaif was no longer a student at the university," the college said in a statement released to FLORIDA TODAY.

Investigators learned that Rehaif failed to leave the country, as required by federal law, after his student visa expired. It was not known if he was contacted about his failure to leave prior to Tuesday's arrest.

The case unfolded after a Melbourne police officer tipped off federal authorities to suspicious activity involving the UAE citizen at the Hilton Rialto in Melbourne.

The officer learned that Rehaif had been staying at the hotel and checking into a different room each day for more than 50 days. Rehaif paid out more than $11,000 in cash for the room fees, although it was not clear where or how he obtained the money.

Rehaif, according to reports, had at one point also given a hotel worker four rounds of ammunition.

Federal agents turned up at the hotel and asked to speak with Rehaif, who voluntarily allowed them to search his room, authorities said.

Agents found a box of ammunition – 9 mm rounds – in a black bag. Rehaif told the agents that he had recently purchased three firearms but sold them. He also mentioned that he had used the weapons, a 9 mm and a .38-caliber handgun, at an Orlando shooting range.

Agents also discovered that he had as many as eight cell phones that he sold to local pawn shops but offered no explanation as to why he needed so many phones in that short period of time.

Contact Gallop at 321-242-3642, jdgallop@floridatoday.com and on Twitter at @JDGallop