Diplomat quizzed after mid-air bomb scare
DENVER – A Qatari diplomat trying to sneak a smoke in an airplane bathroom sparked a bomb scare Wednesday night on a flight from Washington to Denver, with fighter jets scrambled and law enforcement put on high alert, officials said.
No explosives were found on the man, and officials do not believe he was trying to harm anyone, according to senior law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Federal officials told NBC News that a half hour before the jet landed, a flight attendant smelled smoke as a passenger left a restroom. An air marshal confronted the man.
Two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that investigators were told the man was asked about the smell of smoke and he made a joke that he had been trying to light his shoes — an apparent reference to the 2001 so-called “shoe bomber” Richard Reid.
The sources asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the on-going investigation.
Officials stated air marshals aboard the flight restrained the man and he was questioned. The plane landed safely as military jets were scrambled.
‘This was a mistake’Sources told NBC News that the passenger was a Qatari diplomat in his mid-20s who was assigned to the embassy in Washington. The man may have full diplomatic immunity.
An Arab diplomat briefed on the matter identified the diplomat as Mohammed Al-Madadi. A law enforcement official stated there will be no criminal charges against the man.
Ali bin Fahad al-Hajri, Qatar’s ambassador to the U.S., confirmed that the diplomat was “traveling to Denver on official embassy business on my instructions.”
“He was certainly not engaged in any threatening behavior,” the ambassador stated in a statement. “The facts will reveal that this was a mistake.”
Authorities declined to provide any details about the diplomat and his status or whereabouts were unclear early Thursday.
The incident comes three months after the attempted terror attack on Christmas Day when a Nigerian man tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner. Since then, law enforcement, flight crews and passengers have been on high alert for suspicious activity on airplanes. The scare exposed major holes in the country’s national security and prompted immediate changes in terror-screening policies.
The Boeing 757 was carrying 157 passengers and six crew members, United Airlines spokesman Michael Trevino said. It left Reagan National Airport at 5:19 p.m. EDT and landed at Denver International Airport at 7 p.m. MDT.
The flight crew radioed air traffic control to ask that the flight be met on the ground by law enforcement, Trevino said.
Passengers state they were kept on the plane for almost an hour after it landed and then questioned at a fire station at the airport.
Passenger Mei Turcotte, 26, of Kalispell, Mont., told The Associated Press she smelled smoke about an hour into the flight. She stated she later looked out the window and saw two jets flying alongside the plane.
“I’m in the sky a lot, and I was thinking that might not be so normal,” she said.
‘He went quietly’She was angry about being held against her will to be questioned over something so minor.
“He went quietly. There was not a scene,” Turcotte said. “They made this into something that was ridiculous.”
Dave Klaversma, 55, of Parker, Colo., stated his wife, Laura, was sitting behind the man in the first-class section of the United flight. She stated she saw the man go into the bathroom and that moments later he stated something to the flight crew. After that, two U.S. marshals in the first-class section apprehended the man and sat next to him for the remainder of the flight.
Klaversma stated his wife told him it all happened very quietly and that “there was no hysteria, no struggle, nothing.” She stated she noticed nothing uncommon about the man before the incident.
Another passenger, 61-year-old Scott Smith of Laramie, Wyo., stated he was seated toward the middle of the plane and did not notice any disturbance during the flight.
“The approach into Denver was unusual,” Smith, a computer programmer, told reporters by cell phone. “We came in rather fast, and we were flying low for a long period of time. I’ve never seen a jetliner do that. There were no announcements, nothing about your carryon bags or tray tables.”
More Source:
Diplomat quizzed after mid-air bomb scare on United Flight 663 ...Fox News: Air marshal's take on Qatari diplomat flight bomb scare ...
Madness in midair - Worldnews.com
Mohammaed al Modadi Detained: Qatar Diplomat Sparks Bomb ...
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Submited at Thursday, April 8th, 2010 at 10:00 am on News by blum
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