All U.S. Flights to be Searched
FBI director says items found not linked to terrorism
(CNN) -- A 20-year-old college student is being questioned by federal authorities in Baltimore, Maryland, in connection with suspicious items found on two Southwest Airlines planes, law enforcement sources said Friday.
The sources said the individual -- described as a student of Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C. -- was a passenger aboard the planes, and not an employee of the airline or airports. They said the individual is cooperating with officials, and they stressed he has not been arrested or detained.
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is leading the investigation, Department of Homeland Security officials said.
FBI spokeswoman Cassandra Chandler said the individual questioned is “believed to be responsible for the matter involving box cutters and other items found on Southwest Airlines planes.”
“Based on the investigation conducted thus far, this individual does not appear to pose any further threat to airline security,” Chandler said in a statement.
“This investigation is continuing and is being conducted by FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces ... in coordination with the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland. Proceedings are anticipated this Monday in United States District Court in Baltimore.”
A Transportation Security Administration official said the individual was tracked down, in part, due to an e-mail he had sent to the TSA. Details of that e-mail are not immediately available.
In a statement, Southwest said the bags were found Thursday night after the aircraft landed in Houston and New Orleans.
“While performing maintenance on an aircraft lavatory in New Orleans last evening, several items were discovered in a lavatory compartment,” Southwest said in a statement.
“The items, inside a small plastic bag, included a small number of box cutters and other items intended to simulate a threat. A similar discovery was made in Houston last night on another aircraft during a scheduled maintenance inspection,” the statement read.
Notes in each package “indicated the items were intended to challenge the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint security procedures,” the airline said.
Security checks ordered
Southwest said it alerted the TSA, inspected its fleet of 385 aircraft and found no similar items.
As a precautionary measure, the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration have directed that all commercial aircraft in the U.S. fleet be inspected by security personnel within a day.
FBI Director Robert Mueller said the incident does not endanger passengers.
“This does not appear to be a terrorist event, and there is no imminent threat,” Mueller told reporters in Houston. “I think it’s safe to fly.”
TSA spokesman Chris Rhatigan said no delays were reported as a result of the nationwide inspections.
Government sources told CNN that, in addition to box cutters -- which were smuggled aboard by the September 11, 2001, hijackers -- the bags contained a clay substance that resembled plastic explosives and a liquid that appeared to be bleach.
The liquid was contained in suntan lotion bottles; the clay was inside Play-Doh containers, sources said.
The Houston flight originated in Austin, Texas; the New Orleans flight originated in Orlando, Florida.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security sent out an alert that al Qaeda remains interested in “multiple attacks against targets in the U.S. involving commercial aircraft.”
The order requires pre-flight inspections be carried out by “aviation security personnel” and orders airlines to pay particular attention to bathrooms.
A federal law passed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks requires that airlines perform pre-flight security inspections of every plane, but the law does not stipulate how or by whom the checks should be done.
Most airlines give the task to flight attendants and pilots, though airline security personnel and maintenance or cleaning crews sometimes do the checks, which involve sweeping the aircraft for prohibited items.
The seats, overhead bins and bathrooms are typically checked as part of the inspection.
The informational bulletin sent out to hundreds of thousands of local and state law enforcement professional and airports across the country Oct. 10 was intended to encourage heightened security.
A spokesman for the agency said that no new threat or new intelligence prompted the advisory and that it was almost identical to a bulletin sent out Sept. 4.
Source: FBI; CNN; Associated Press