FBI: Dynamite found in checked luggage

[rs]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20060825/ap_on_re_us/planes_security_problems_7

OK, now pay attention.

By KRISTEN HAYS, AP Business Writer 1 hour, 18 minutes ago

HOUSTON - A college student's checked luggage on a Continental Airlines flight from Argentina contained dynamite, authorities said, in one of six security incidents Friday that caused U.S. flights to be diverted, evacuated or searched.

Federal authorities were investigating why the student, who got off the Continental plane in Houston before it continued to Newark, N.J., had the explosive residue, FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said. She said the student did not appear to be connected to terrorism.

Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Omero Longoria said the man told authorities he works in mining and often handles explosives. Longoria said federal officials were investigating whether the explanation was true.

In other incidents:

_An American Airlines flight from England to Chicago was forced to land in Bangor, Maine, in response to an unspecified threat, authorities said. Passengers deplaned and were led to a holding area, said airport manager Rebecca Hupp. The jetliner was on the tarmac with its engines shut off.

"Given the current threat level, the agency, in conjunction with other federal authorities, took prudent action to assure the safety of the passengers and crew," the federal Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.

_A US Airways jet was diverted to Oklahoma City after a federal air marshal subdued a disruptive passenger who had pushed a flight attendant, the FBI said.

_A Continental Airlines flight from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Bakersfield, Calif., was held in El Paso, one of its scheduled stops, after the crew discovered a missing panel in the lavatory, authorities said.

_A utility knife was found on a vacant passenger seat of a US Airways flight traveling from Philadelphia to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut, state police said.

_An Aer Lingus flight from New York to Dublin was evacuated Friday morning during a scheduled stopover in western Ireland following a bomb threat that turned out to be unfounded, officials said.

Denis Breslin, spokesman for American Airlines' pilots union, said flight crews are predisposed to be cautious, given the alleged terror plot recently broken up in Britain.

"There really are bad guys out there to get us," he said. "We can't afford to take any of these potential threats for granted."

Pilots and flight attendants are now trained to view passengers who appear to be crazy as potential terrorists, Breslin said. But even if a disruptive passenger isn't a terrorist, "who knows what kind of havoc he could wreak on a closed pressurized tube at 39,000 feet?" he said.

In Houston, the dynamite was found during a luggage search in a federal inspection station at Bush Intercontinental Airport shortly after Flight 52 landed at about 6 a.m. Marlene McClinton, spokeswoman for the Houston Airport System, said a bomb-sniffing dog "had a hit" on explosive residue during a further search.

She said Customs and Border Patrol and the FBI shut down the customs area and began questioning the passenger who had the luggage.

Dunlap confirmed that the explosive was dynamite. Dunlap also said the man, one of 173 passengers on the flight, was from Connecticut and attends Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. After landing at Newark Liberty International, the plane was kept from the terminal as a precaution, authorities said.

In another incident,
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Arlene Murray said American Airlines Flight 55 out of Manchester, England, was diverted to Bangor for security reasons.

"The
TSA learned of a reported threat to the aircraft while it was en route," TSA spokeswoman Andrea McCauley said, declining to give further details.

McCauley said FBI agents were interviewing passengers and crew. She added that officers with dogs trained to detect explosives were also checking the plane.

The Boeing 767 carrying 167 passengers and 12 crew members was diverted at the request of the Transportation Security Administration, airline spokesman John Hotard said.

Hotard declined to say whether any passengers were removed from the flight, but he said the crew needed to be changed because of restrictions on how many hours they can work.

In Oklahoma City, the passenger who pushed the flight attendant on the US Airways flight was taken into custody after the plane landed at Will Rogers World Airport, FBI spokesman Gary Johnson said. He was undergoing a mental evaluation, and authorities had yet to determine what criminal charges he might face. The twin-engine jet returned to flight three hours later on its trip from Phoenix to Charlotte, N.C.

In Connecticut, authorities said they received an emergency call at about 8:25 a.m. reporting that a passenger on US Airways Flight 554 had found the knife and reported it to a flight attendant. When the plane arrived at Bradley, state troopers boarded the aircraft, seized the knife as evidence and interviewed passengers.

No arrests were made and there were no threats involved, said Master Sgt. J. Paul Vance, state police spokesman.

Authorities do not know yet whether a worker inadvertently left the knife on the plane or a passenger brought it on, Vance said.

The FBI was also involved in the investigation.

Back in Texas, the crew of Continental Airlines Flight 2258 discovered a missing panel in the lavatory, and passengers were being screened and interviewed upon landing in El Paso, the TSA's Amy von Walter said.

The Air Transport Association, a lobbying group that represents major airlines, said the diversions are necessary for safety reasons.

"Decisions to divert aircraft for security reasons are made for a wide variety of reasons, the ATA said in a statement. "While the reasons for these decisions will vary, the common factor is the overarching importance of assuring the safety of our passengers and crews."

OK, now a test. It is pass/fail and only one question:

1) Was dynamite found on the Continental flight?

 

[rs]

OK, lets make up our minds here:

Stick of dynamite found in checked luggage

By KRISTEN HAYS, AP Business Writer 12 minutes ago

HOUSTON - A stick of dynamite was found in a college student's checked luggage on a Continental Airlines flight from Argentina, in one of six security incidents Friday that caused U.S. flights to be diverted, evacuated or searched.

Federal authorities were investigating why the student, who got off the Continental plane in Houston before it continued to Newark, N.J., had the explosive,
FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said.

The student, Howard McFarland Fish, 21, was in federal custody and authorities determined his actions were not acts of terrorism, according to the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Fish told authorities he works in mining and often handles explosives, Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Omero Longoria said. Longoria said federal officials were investigating whether the explanation was true.

In other incidents:

_An American Airlines flight from England to Chicago was forced to land in Bangor, Maine, in response to an unspecified threat, authorities said. Passengers deplaned and were led to a holding area, said airport manager Rebecca Hupp. The jetliner was on the tarmac with its engines shut off.

"Given the current threat level, the agency, in conjunction with other federal authorities, took prudent action to assure the safety of the passengers and crew," the federal Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.

_A US Airways jet was diverted to Oklahoma City after a federal air marshal subdued a disruptive passenger who had pushed a flight attendant, the FBI said.

_A Continental Airlines flight from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Bakersfield, Calif., was held in El Paso, one of its scheduled stops, after the crew discovered a missing panel in the lavatory, authorities said.

_A utility knife was found on a vacant passenger seat of a US Airways flight traveling from Philadelphia to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut, state police said.

_An Aer Lingus flight from New York to Dublin was evacuated Friday morning during a scheduled stopover in western Ireland following a bomb threat that turned out to be unfounded, officials said.

Denis Breslin, spokesman for American Airlines' pilots union, said flight crews are predisposed to be cautious, given the alleged terror plot recently broken up in Britain.

"There really are bad guys out there to get us," he said. "We can't afford to take any of these potential threats for granted."

Pilots and flight attendants are now trained to view passengers who appear to be crazy as potential terrorists, Breslin said. But even if a disruptive passenger isn't a terrorist, "who knows what kind of havoc he could wreak on a closed pressurized tube at 39,000 feet?" he said.

In Houston, the dynamite was found during a luggage search in a federal inspection station at Bush Intercontinental Airport shortly after Flight 52 landed at about 6 a.m. Marlene McClinton, spokeswoman for the Houston Airport System, said a bomb-sniffing dog "had a hit" on explosive residue during a further search.

She said Customs and Border Patrol and the FBI shut down the customs area and began questioning the passenger who had the luggage.

Dunlap confirmed that the explosive was dynamite. Dunlap also said the man, one of 173 passengers on the flight, was from Connecticut and attends Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. After landing at Newark Liberty International, the plane was kept from the terminal as a precaution, authorities said.

In another incident,
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Arlene Murray said American Airlines Flight 55 out of Manchester, England, was diverted to Bangor for security reasons.

"The
TSA learned of a reported threat to the aircraft while it was en route," TSA spokeswoman Andrea McCauley said, declining to give further details.

McCauley said FBI agents were interviewing passengers and crew. She added that officers with dogs trained to detect explosives were also checking the plane.

The Boeing 767 carrying 167 passengers and 12 crew members was diverted at the request of the Transportation Security Administration, airline spokesman John Hotard said.

Hotard declined to say whether any passengers were removed from the flight, but he said the crew needed to be changed because of restrictions on how many hours they can work.

In Oklahoma City, the passenger who pushed the flight attendant on the US Airways flight was taken into custody after the plane landed at Will Rogers World Airport, FBI spokesman Gary Johnson said. He was undergoing a mental evaluation, and authorities had yet to determine what criminal charges he might face. The twin-engine jet returned to flight three hours later on its trip from Phoenix to Charlotte, N.C.

In Connecticut, authorities said they received an emergency call at about 8:25 a.m. reporting that a passenger on US Airways Flight 554 had found the knife and reported it to a flight attendant. When the plane arrived at Bradley, state troopers boarded the aircraft, seized the knife as evidence and interviewed passengers.

No arrests were made and there were no threats involved, said Master Sgt. J. Paul Vance, state police spokesman.

Authorities do not know yet whether a worker inadvertently left the knife on the plane or a passenger brought it on, Vance said.

The FBI was also involved in the investigation.

Back in Texas, the crew of Continental Airlines Flight 2258 discovered a missing panel in the lavatory, and passengers were being screened and interviewed upon landing in El Paso, the TSA's Amy von Walter said.

The Air Transport Association, a lobbying group that represents major airlines, said the diversions are necessary for safety reasons.

"Decisions to divert aircraft for security reasons are made for a wide variety of reasons, the ATA said in a statement. "While the reasons for these decisions will vary, the common factor is the overarching importance of assuring the safety of our passengers and crews."

Now *actually* finding a stick of dynamite rather than having the explosives detector go off because of residue on clothes, etc. represents two extremes. I don't think that dynamite is *ever* permitted in checked luggage, and if an actual stick were present, it is a felony by definition.

But by the time they get their collective stories straight, people will only ever remember the headline...

 

[rs]

Even more on this story:

U.S. student got dynamite as silver-mine souvenir

The (Allentown, Pa.) Morning Call
Aug. 27, 2006 12:00 AM

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - A Lafayette College student who took a stick of dynamite in his luggage on a flight Friday from Argentina to Houston was charged with carrying an explosive aboard an aircraft and was in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Howard MacFarland Fish, 21, does not have any apparent connection to terrorism, FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said.

Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Omero Longoria said Fish told authorities he works in mining and often handles explosives.

Fish, who will be a junior this fall at Lafayette, is a psychology student, according to college Communications Director Roger Clow.

Fish's father said the dynamite was a souvenir his son, nicknamed Huck, got on a tour of a silver mine on a three-week trip to South America.

"They gave them all a little package that is part of the silver-mining process, which included a piece of dynamite," Howard MacFarland Fish III said in a telephone interview from his home in Old Lyme, Conn. "He dumped it into his suitcase. It was not tremendous judgment, given what goes on in the air today."

Now, one might reasonably ask why I am seemingly stuck on this stupid news story. Its because it is just so freakin' obvious that this is just a manipulation effort.

Now what happened? I am not sure exactly, but I know what did *not* happen - what did not happen is that someone brought an active, usable, intact stick of dynamite on an airplane.

What seems probable based on the stories is that this in-duh-vidual purchased an inactivated piece of dynamite as part of a souvenir trinket. It was not something that could ever have posed any threat or caused any damage, or they would not be able to sell it as a souvenir. Admittedly, Argentina is not necessarily noted for its strict consumer safety laws, but selling active and dangerous sticks of dynamite as a souvenir is not likely.

Instead what this did was pollute his luggage with detectable traces of explosives so that when they ran it through the machine (or past the dog), a hit occured.

Never at any time was there even the remotest possibility that this posed any danger, although this in-duh-vidual clearly deserves a gold-plated "what the heck were you thinking?" award. What bothers me is that this story is so obviously designed to simply increase the level of hysteria that I am simply unable to believe that so many people bought into it without critical thinking of even the most simplistic level.

What should be obvious is that the Argentinian officials either correctly determined that this was a traveller's trinket and therefore did nothing about it, or perhaps they missed it, but they still correctly determined that this individual posed no threat.

Perhaps it really is hopeless, the population really is asleep. Or perhaps even worse - comatose. At least a sleeping person can be awakened.

 

[Cyre2067]

Yeah its worse then whisper down the lane... its like a rumor is reported and the media carries it as news as long as its sensational.