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BRITAIN has resorted to detaining as an illegal immigrant a man regarded as one of al-Qaeda’s most dangerous terrorists. Abu Doha, whose various aliases include “The Doctor”, has been in Belmarsh highsecurity jail for almost six years facing extradition to the United States on charges of running a jihad training camp in Afghanistan and plotting to blow up Los Angeles airport. But the US has been forced to drop the case against him after an informer refused to give evidence. A British judge described the extremist network created by Abu Doha as “one of the most significant groups of terrorists...

NEWARK, NJ (CBS SF) — A New Jersey woman headed to San Francisco International Airport was briefly detained Tuesday after Transportation Security Administration screeners found explosive devices inside a suitcase she had checked for the flight, federal authorities told CBS San Francisco. TSA explosives experts said the woman’s luggage contained three small Claymore land mine casings, two of which were “packed with shrapnel.” .. ... TSA and local police confiscated the weapons, but allowed the woman – identified only as a resident of Union, New Jersey – to travel on a later flight to San Francisco.

For twenty years – long before 9/11 – the danger of terrorists armed with surface to air missiles shooting at passenger planes has been the secret fear of many top political leaders. In the late 90s, a terrorist network was nabbed trying to bring them into Newark Airport, but the airline industry and the government have done nothing to equip passenger airplanes with any defense against these always deadly missiles. Now Barack Obama has committed the ultimate sin: He has let 20,000 surface-to-air missiles escape from military depots in Libya. According to ABC News “U.S. officials had once thought there...

APRIL 25, 2010 2:02 AM SNIPPET: "MONTREAL — A British Airways flight bound for London was reportedly held up for almost two hours on the tarmac at Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport Saturday night as officials questioned a passenger who exhibited suspicious behaviour just before the plane was scheduled to take off." SNIPPET: "Fellow passengers reportedly told the cabin crew that the man had been behaving oddly and was in possession of a small quantity of clear liquid. "It was more than what you would normally be allowed to have, and passengers said he was doing something suspicious with it,"...

An unruly passenger causes a Continental Express jet to make an emergency landing at BWI. Captain Mike Perry reports around 6:30 p.m. Thursday County police and fire marshals were requested to respond to the airport for an unruly passenger on the Continental Express jet. At this point, it is not clear whether the flight originated from BWI or was en route. Passengers on the flight had to be deplaned as officials and a dog boarded the plane. There's no further information on what the passenger may have done. Stay with WJZ.COM for updates to this developing story. ************** supplement with...

Chicago-To-Germany Flight Diverted Because Of Unruly Passenger July 8, 2011 6:05 PM Federal agents investigate after a disruption on an international flight from Chicago to Germany that was diverted to Cleveland. (Photo provide by a passenger) Federal agents investigate after a disruption on an international flight from Chicago to Germany that was diverted to Cleveland. CHICAGO (WBBM) – Some Chicagoans have quite a story to tell about a flight from O’Hare to Frankfort, Germany that was diverted Friday to Cleveland when a passenger was found hiding in the bathroom and went ballistic when he was confronted. Joe Shulfer of Woodstock...

Examiner.com Drew Mandy, a terrorist if ever there was oneDrew Mandy, a terrorist if ever there was one Credits: TSA takes toy away from mentally challenged man By Howard Portnoy, Libertarian Examiner June 10, 2011 10:43 am ET We can all sleep easier tonight knowing that Drew Mandy’s plastic toy hammer is in the trash rather than terrorizing passengers and crew on the plane he and his parents boarded for Walt Disney World. If you’re looking for someone to thank for depriving a mentally challenged 29-year-old of his much-beloved security blanket, look no further than the Transportation and Security Administration....

The Rev. Jacob Jester wasn’t trying to start anything. But when he saw security screeners at Kansas City International Airport patting down a baby — a baby — he took a picture. And then he shared that picture on Twitter. It went viral, and voila: Jester’s snapshot is the flashpoint of the day in the debate over who should be considered a threat to the flying public. Not what he intended, Jester said Tuesday, after the image had been picked up by The Drudge Report and the Daily Mail in London, among others, and viewed nearly 300,000 times. “I thought...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- An attorney said Tuesday that some Muslim religious leaders wearing traditional Arab garb were humiliated and embarrassed when they were wrongly kicked off two commercial flights as they sought to travel to a national conference. Imams in Memphis, Tenn., and New York were headed to the Charlotte conference when they were asked to leave the planes Friday. The imams had already passed through security at the airports before being stopped by airline personnel.

Egyptian intelligence warned American officials about a week before Sept. 11 that Osama bin Laden's network was in the advance stages of executing a significant operation against an American target, it will be reported on Tuesday (in the NY TIMES)... MORE... A senior U.S. intelligence official denied the warning was received...

After more than three decades in United States prisons — a term punctuated by a brief escape and recapture — a 62-year-old Croatian independence fighter was returned to his native country on Thursday, having served his time for a 1976 hijacking and a bombing that killed a police officer. The fighter, Zvonko Busic, led a group that planted a bomb at Grand Central Terminal that later exploded, killing a city police officer, Brian J. Murray. Mr. Busic left the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind., boarded a plane in Chicago and touched down in Zagreb about 2:20 p.m. on...

THE DEATH of Delvonte Tisdale was haunting enough. Authorities believe the 16-year-old stowed away in the wheel well of a US Airways jet in Charlotte and then plummeted to the ground in Milton as the plane dropped its landing gear on approach to Logan Airport. But how he got on board raises fresh questions about airport security — or the continuing lack thereof. Tweet Be the first to Tweet this!0diggsdiggYahoo! Buzz ShareThis Last month, as public outrage was approaching the boiling point over the alleged indignity of full-body scanners and pat-downs, and just two weeks after package bombs nearly made...

Back in January, the Obama administration announced a new policy for airline safety: country-based profiling. Travelers from 14 countries known to harbor terrorists would automatically receive extra scrutiny, including additional pat-downs or full-body scans. The named states were: Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. My reaction at the time was: You mean you weren’t already doing that? Apparently not. When underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab traveled from Nigeria to Detroit without baggage (it was reported at the time that he had purchased a one-way ticket, but that proved to be...

BREAKING: 2 UPS Planes Isolated At Philadelphia International Airport October 29, 2010 9:56 AM From Jessica McWilliams PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Authorities have isolated two cargo planes are Philadelphia International Airport following a report of a suspicious package. Local and federal authorities are investigating a suspicious package aboard a cargo plane that landed at Philadelphia International Airport at about 9 a.m. Friday. A second UPS plane was isolated near the UPS terminal before take off. Authorities say a crew member aboard an inbound UPS plane from Paris, France notified authorities on approach about a suspicious package. The crew member described a...

ABC reports: Two men taken off a Chicago-to-Amsterdam United Airlines flight in the Netherlands have been charged by Dutch police with “preparation of a terrorist attack,” U.S. law enforcement officials tell ABC News. A spokesman for the Dutch public prosecutor, Ernst Koelman, confirmed the two men were arrested this morning and said “the investigation is ongoing.” He said the arrests were made “at the request of American authorities.” The two were allowed to board the flight at O’Hare airport last night despite security concerns surrounding one of them, the officials said. The men were identified as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al...

Dutch police have detained two men who flew from Chicago to Amsterdam on Sunday night after U.S. screeners found suspicious-looking items in their checked luggage before they departed, U.S law enforcement officials said.

'Man Arrested' in Karachi Airport Security Alert A man has been held at Karachi airport after batteries and an electrical circuit were found in his shoes as he tried to board a plane, reports say. Mohammad Munir, spokesman for the airport security force, said the civil engineer was arrested when a scanner sounded an alarm at the airport. He was scheduled to travel to the Omani capital Muscat on Thai Airways. The suspect was not found in possession of explosives, but Mr Munir described the circuit discovery as "worrying". He told AFP news agency: "After the machine gave the alarm,...

Major Update Below!As I posted yesterday, there was a disturbing blurb in a NY Times article that indicated Faisal Shahzad, the now infamous Times Square Bomber, was under surveillance as a potential terrorist during the Bush administration. George LaMonica, a 35-year-old computer consultant, said he bought his two-bedroom condominium in Norwalk, Conn., from Mr. Shahzad for $261,000 in May 2004. A few weeks after he moved in, Mr. LaMonica said, investigators from the national Joint Terrorism Task Force [JTTF] interviewed him, asking for details of the transaction and for information about Mr. Shahzad. It struck Mr. LaMonica as unusual, but...

MYFOXNY.COM - A passenger was reportedly pulled off of an Emirates Airlines aircraft at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens on Thursday morning. The passenger was reportedly discovered to be on the no-fly list, according to Breaking News Network.

HOUSTON - A small piece of luggage exploded at Bush Intercontinental Airport on Tuesday afternoon. No injuries were reported. According to a spokeswoman for the Houston Airport System, the luggage exploded shortly after the jet landed around 2 p.m. Ground crews said they noticed something strange about the luggage and were working to remove it when the explosion occurred. While no injuries were reported

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles to Florida was diverted to Albuquerque early Friday after a passenger sprayed the first-class cabin with a water bottle, tried to open a cabin door and threatened to blow up the aircraft. Crew members and passengers on Delta flight 2148 to Tampa subdued Stanley Dwayne Sheffield, 46. He was taken into federal custody after the plane landed at 1:30 a.m. Friday. FBI Supervisory Special Agent Darrin Jones said authorities do not believe the incident was related to terrorism. Sheffield, whose hometown in Florida wasn't disclosed by investigators, was charged...

Ahmad Afzali, the Queens imam who pleaded guilty in March to lying to law enforcement officials about his relationship with Najibullah Zazi, the airport worker who planned to bomb New York's subways, was sentenced by a federal judge yesterday to time served. Mr. Afzali, who left his native Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion, also agreed to "self-execute" removal from the United States in the next 90 days in order to avoid a deportation hearing. Prosecutors alleged that Mr. Afzali warned Mr. Zazi and his father that they were under law-enforcement surveillance, then, as Assistant U.S. Attorney James P. Loonam told...

Details are starting to emerge regarding the Qatari diplomat who slipped into an airplane bathroom for a mid-flight smoke, touching off a bomb scare and creating minor media crisis. Turns out that it was not a cigarette that Mohammed Al-Madadi was smoking, but something else all together. Leave it to Fox News anchor Shep Smith to cut through the malarkey, and tell us what really went down.

WASHINGTON — The 27-year-old Qatari diplomat who caused a full-blown, midair security scare when he tried to sneak a cigarette and then joked about it will probably be catching the next flight to Doha, a senior State Department official said Thursday. "His ability to function effectively has been compromised," the official said, adding that the diplomat will probably not be returning to the United States after the incident. Fox News also has confirmed that the diplomat was on his way to Denver for a consular visit with a jailed Al Qaeda operative -- perhaps adding to the tension with the...

Federal air marshals subdued a man who authorities say attempted to "light his shoes on fire" on a United flight from Washington Reagan to Denver Wednesday night, federal law enforcement officials told ABC News. SNIP The suspect was identified by authorities as a diplomat in the Qatar embassy in Washington, Mohammed al Modadi. The FBI said the man had full diplomat immunity as the 3rd secretary and vice-consul.

It's going on all the time I have a friend who is in the airline business who told me of a questionable incident on a recent flight of his. For his security, the details have to remain non-disclosed. But it is going on all the time. message is below

A man is hauled off a plane at Capital Region International Airport Sunday night, after passengers tackled him during take-off. An airport spokesman will only tell us there was an incident. But News Ten has talked with three passengers on Delta Flight 3679 who told us what happened. Take-off was delayed, and the pilot said it was because of bad weather in Detroit. During that delay, flight attendants asked several large men to move to the front of the plane. Several passengers tackled a man who had demanded to sit near the cockpit. They held him down while the plane...

Daniel Rubin in today's Philadelphia Inquirer has exposed another egregious example of a prominent federal agency's absence of common decency and sense. This involved a businesswoman who wound up facing felony charges after a dispute stemming from her objections as to how screeners for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) handled her underwear during a private baggage screening at Philadelphia International Airport. She was acquitted of all charges. (snip) The TSA is the federalization of baggage screeners that occurred after 9/11. It was not wanted by the Bush Administration nor recommended by security experts but was insisted upon by leading Democrats...

Headline only.

Two men were stopped boarding US-bound planes at Heathrow days before Britain's terror threat was raised to "severe".News of the incidents came hours after Home Secretary Alan Johnson lifted the threat level amid fears that al-Qaeda is planning an attack. The new level, which means an attack is reckoned "highly likely", is second only to "critical".Security sources say an Egyptian was stopped last Saturday as he tried to board an American Airlines flight to Miami. A man from Saudi Arabia was banned from boarding a United Airlines flight to Chicago the next day and sent back to Saudi.The incidents and...

U.S. President Barack Obama ordered extra pre-flight screening for air travelers flying to the United States from 14 countries. One of those states, close Washington ally Algeria, has called its inclusion discriminatory. "We are looking at alternatives to address the risks that we see out there," U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Janet Sanderson told a news conference after talks with Algerian officials. "This is an evolutionary process." Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has claimed responsibility for the failed December

A teenage airplane passenger using a Jewish prayer object caused a misunderstanding that led the captain to divert a Kentucky-bound plane to Philadelphia and prompted a visit from a bomb squad. A 17-year-old boy on US Airways Express Flight 3079 from New York to Louisville was using tefillin, a set of small black boxes containing biblical passages that are attached to leather straps, said Philadelphia police Lt. Frank Vanore. When used in prayer, one box is strapped to the arm while the other box is placed on the head. "It's something that the average person is not going to see...

PHILADELPHIA - A Jewish teenager trying to pray on a New York-to- Kentucky flight caused a scare Thursday when he pulled out a set of small boxes containing holy scrolls, leading the captain to divert the flight to Philadelphia, where the commuter plane was greeted by police, bomb-sniffing dogs and federal agents. The 17-year-old on US Airways Express Flight 3079 was using tefillin, a set of small boxes containing biblical passages that are attached to leather straps, Philadelphia police Lt. Frank Vanore said. When used in prayer, one box is strapped to the arm while the other box is placed...

Airport ‘security’ has to pretend all seven billion of us on this planet are an equal threat A couple of days after the Christmas Day Pantybomber tried to light up his gusset on the approach to Detroit, I was at a small airport in Vermont shuffling through the line to what they call the “sterile” area. Anyway, I handed over my driver’s licence and, as he had done with all the previous passengers, the Transportation Security Administration agent examined it. And examined it. And examined it some more. He had a loupe, one of those magnifying glasses jewellers use to...

"I’m, for one - I know it’s not politically correct to say it - I believe in racial and ethnic profiling. I think if you’re looking at people getting on an airplane and you have X amount of resources to get into it, you get at the targets, and not my wife."

Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair on Wednesday said he should not have given in to pressure to reduce the passenger no-fly list before the attempted Christmas Day bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253. “The pressure on the no-fly list was to make them smaller … shame on us for giving in to that pressure,” Blair told the Senate Homeland Security Committee during a Wednesday hearing. “What is prudent is to put names on just in case and take them off when it’s justified,” he said. “The pressure [before the attempted bombing] was in the other direction. I should not...

On Christmas Day, a gentleman from Nigeria succeeded (effortlessly) in boarding a flight to Detroit with a bomb in his underwear. Pretty funny, huh? But the Pantybomber wasn’t the big joke. The real laugh was the United States government. The global hyperpower spent the next week making itself a laughingstock to the entire planet. First, the bureaucrats at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) swung into action with a whole new range of restrictions.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – Police questioned a passenger on a small commercial plane that flew from Chicago to a northern Michigan resort town on Friday after the crew reported he was acting suspiciously. Crew members aboard United Airlines Flight 6036 said the 28-year-old California man had taken "an article" into the bathroom and left without it, said Traverse City Police Capt. Steve Morgan. The crew found that a panel inside the bathroom had been tampered with, he said. They requested law enforcement assistance while approaching Cherry Capital Airport, Morgan said. A government official said earlier the passenger had made a...

So here's a question for Mr. Obama. Suppose that five, heavily armed Islamic terrorists wearing suicide vests had been waiting for our TSA Einstein to leave his post. What then?

An AirTran Airways passenger whose actions prompted two military jets to scramble ... Muhammad Abu Tahir, 47, is due in federal court Wednesday in Denver. An initial appearance scheduled Monday was postponed so an interpreter who speaks Tahir's native Urdu could be found. He opened the door twice, once to place his shoes and socks outside the door, according to the affidavit. The second time, the door opened to reveal he was shaving with no shirt on.

LONDON: A Dubai-bound Emirates flight with more than 300 passengers on board was grounded minutes before it was due to take off from Heathrow airport on Friday night after three men sparked a terror alert when they reportedly made a “verbal threat”, though it was not known what exactly they said. Armed officers stormed the plane and the men — all white and aged 58, 48 and 36 — were arrested on suspicion of making a bomb threat. The plane was then moved to a safe area and evacuated.

A passenger has been charged with making a bomb threat which grounded a plane at London's Heathrow Airport on Friday night. Robert Fowles, 58, from Dover, Kent, was also charged with being drunk on an aircraft, the Metropolitan Police said. Alexander McGinn, 48, who is also from Dover, was also charged with being drunk on an aircraft. Armed police boarded the Dubai-bound Emirates flight after remarks were made to cabin crew. Mr Fowles, who lives in Edred Road, Dover, will appear from custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Sunday. Mr McGinn, of Lowther Road, has been bailed and will appear...

MIAMI - Bond was set at $210,000 Friday for a North Toledo man who was taken off a Detroit-bound jet at Miami International Airport and arrested after making anti-Semitic threats. Mansor Mohammad "Mickey" Asad, 43, of 1216 Ontario St. was held Friday in Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, Miami, in lieu of 10 percent of the bond, Janelle Hall, a Miami-Dade Corrections Department spokesman, said. A Northwest pilot said a passenger was disruptive and made such statements as, "I'm a Palestinian and I want to kill all the Jews." snipAsad's attorney, Frank J. Gaviria, said he will ask the judge...

AUTHORITIES at London's Heathrow airport are investigating a security alert on board a plane bound for Dubai, amid reports that armed police had surrounded a passenger. A spokesman for airport operator BAA confirmed " a security incident on an Emirates plane going to Dubai". He said he had no further details about the incident and added: "It is only affecting that one plane, the rest of the flights at Heathrow are operating." Sky News television reported that armed police had boarded the plane after a passenger made a verbal threat and took a man off in handcuffs.

Unruly man grounds AirTran flight By Mashaun D. Simon The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 9:16 p.m. Friday, January 8, 2010 The unruly and allegedly drunk passenger who forced an emergency landing of an AirTran jet flying from Atlanta to San Francisco Friday is being held over the weekend in anticipation of federal charges being filed Monday. Muhammad Abu Tahir, 46, of Virginia was transported to the El Paso, Co. County jail where he will be detained on a federal hold, said FBI officials. Federal charges for interference with a flight crew are expected to be filed, FBI spokeswoman Kathleen Wright told the...

59% Favor Racial, Ethnic Profiling For Airline Security...

Airtran flight 39, Atlanta to San Francisco, unruly passenger on board. Fighters launched to escort plane, landed in Colorado Springs. Info per Neil Cavuto on Fox News; no link yet.

"Rep. Leonard Boswell is on the House Subcommittee for Aviation. I’d like to reach out and give Rep. Boswell a chance to make our airways a safer place to travel before terrorists have another chance at killing innocent Americans. Here are the solutions proposed: We need to combine intelligence and a careful selection of passenger information with redundant and data-integrated technologies. We need to use what we know. Passengers must be analyzed based on flight history and current flight plans. Individuals on the watch-list should never make it on an airplane let alone be given a US visa; especially when...

Passenger Forced Off Detroit-Bound Plane After Shouting 'I Want To Kill All The Jews' By WIL LONGBOTTOM 07th January 2010 Abusive: Mansor Mohammad Asad is alleged to have shouted 'I want to kill all the Jews' on board a flight at Miami airport before he was arrested An airline passenger has been forced off a Detroit-bound plane and arrested after shouting 'I want to kill all the Jews'. Miami police said in a statement today that 43-year-old Mansor Mohammad Asad, of Toledo, Ohio, faces several charges including disorderly conduct. Police say the Northwest Airlines flight was taxiing at Miami International...

An airline passenger has been forced off a Detroit-bound plane and arrested after shouting 'I want to kill all the Jews'. Miami police said in a statement today that 43-year-old Mansor Mohammad Asad, of Toledo, Ohio, faces several charges including disorderly conduct. Police say the Northwest Airlines flight was taxiing at Miami International Airport yesterday, but was turned around after Asad became abusive. Witnesses told authorities he was loud, disruptive and claimed to be Palestinian. They believed he was sometimes speaking Arabic. The Transportation Security Administration said three of his companions were also taken off the plane and questioned. The...