http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34592031/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts Officials: Possible terror attack on Northwest jet Nigerian man tries to light powdery substance on Detroit flight, officials say BREAKING NEWS NBC News and msnbc.com updated 16 minutes ago A 23-year-old Nigerian man tried to light a powdery substance aboard a Northwest Airlines flight before landing in Detroit on Friday, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official told NBC News. Two people noticed the attempt and a third person jumped on the man and subdued him, an airline official told NBC News. The man is being treated at the burn unit of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, officials said. The man told investigators that he wanted to set off a bomb over the United States and claimed to be tied to al-Qaida, counterterrorism officials said. The man was subdued by the crew of Flight 253 from Amsterdam, one counterterrorism official said. The official said the man left Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday, then boarded the Northwest flight in Amsterdam on Friday. Flight 253 was an Airbus 330 carrying 278 passengers. The Transportation Security Administration reported that the plane was taken to a remote area of Detroit Metropolitan Airport and all passengers deplaned and were rescreened along with all the luggage on the flight. In addition, all passengers were interviewed, a TSA statement said. President Barack Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, was informed of the incident Friday morning by his National Security Council staff, White House spokesman Bill Burton said. U.S. counterterrorism officials are treating this as a possible terrorist attack and are taking it “very seriously,” counterterrorism officials said. An interagency meeting of senior intelligence, law enforcement and security was convened out of Washington to discuss the incident and possible measures to ensure there no similar attacks, Burton said. U.S. counterterrorism officials are particularly concerned in light of the 2006 London airline plot, in which British and Pakistani nationals conspired to carry out multiple suicide bombings on board trans-Atlantic flights. On Dec. 22, 2001, passengers and crew aboard an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami subdued a man who was attempting to detonate explosives in his sneakers. Richard Reid pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in 2003 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his cousin, Ramzi Yousef, were accused of plotting in 1995 to take down multiple airliners over the Pacific Ocean using explosive devices hidden in airliner lavatories.
idiot. glad people are aware enough to stop such an act. Gotta be one hell of a thing to be a part of. Just flew a KLM and NWA flights to Saudi.
I was thinking that the next time some son of a b*tch tried to do something like this he was going to get gang tackled and hog-tied by the people around him. Luckily that turned out to be the case. Glad everyone is safe.
Disgusting. Well, both disgusting and good. Good that nobody was injured. Good that TSA will have to revamp their security protocols and screening to detect whatever substance this degenerate was able to smuggle aboard. I was under the impression that they were fireworks. I guess that wasn't the case if the guy was claiming his goal was to set off a bomb. But man, Al-Qaeda.....it's Christmas so I won't say what I really think.
You're not. I'm curious what it was and how he did it. You can bet the house that TSA is going to start screening for whatever it was. Like I said in my post above, given that nobody was injured and all that it caused was a scare -- this is arguably a blessing in disguise.
I'm no expert but as I understand it: most major countries/airports largely screen for the same things. Not only that, but the government closely monitors the security standards of any foreign airport involving an American carrier. Whatever our TSA tests and screens for they're going to expect foreign airports to screen for as well. So basically if the Secretary of Transportation doesn't feel the standards are adequate they can make a big stink about it. Given how global air travel decreased by a record mark in 2009, I don't think anybody is in a position where they want to alienate anybody -- especially a country like the US.
I wonder how much the US can really police this. Take Mexico for example. You can, of course, make sure Mexico City's airport is secure. But what happens if someone boards a plane in podunkville, Mexico and then flies to Mexico City and then changes planes to the US? People (in the US and otherwise) are only screened at their point of origin. So if you board a plane at a small, local airport and then transfer at a major airport, US security standards probably wouldn't be enforced.
It's a good question. I think it depends largely upon the origin but I'll ask my parents -- they're both safety inspectors for the FAA and likely know much more about the issue than I do.
I don't think an Al Qaeda agent would just light up some fireworks. He probably didn't light the bomb up right.
if you were a terrorist, why would you bomb a plane? Wouldnt a stadium/concert/mass gathering of people outside be the best option?
I am grateful that Al Qaeda hasn't started using Chinese to bomb planes. Don't want people to start threatening Yao Ming and the other asian brothers.
I suspect this guy isn't a real Al Qaeda agent but a wannabe. I suspect a real Al Qaeda agent would use something easier to deploy than lighting some white powder.
A couple of years ago I was flying from Lahore, Pakistan back home to Houston, via Dubai. After we landed in Dubai from Lahore, we went through security again before getting on our next flight. I guess they don't trust Pakistani airport security. Not sure if it's the same case with Mexico.
I read an article that said, once on a kidnapped plane, Al-Quaeda let the Chinese hostages go because they didn't want to make an enemy out of China as well, but they kept all the other hostages on board. Of course, this was before the Uighers and the Chinese suppression of them, and apparently some Uigher branch of Al-Quaeda declared war on China, but they were also said to be small fry, so nobody cared.
