NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES US ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on Thursday night released the passenger of Air India flight 101, who was detained for questioning at New York's John F Kennedy Airport on suspicion that he figured on the FBI's 'no-fly' list, saying it was a false alarm.
The identity of the passenger was not immediately available. However, officials said the passenger in question cooperated with the sleuths.
The drama had begun much earlier, when a screener at Heathrow Airport, London, thought he saw a resemblance between the passenger boarding the Air India flight and a face on the FBI's "no-fly" list.
The screener alerted aviation authorities. Canadian F-18 jet fighters moved into position, shadowing the plane into US air space.
The flight touched down at JFK Airport at 1625 EDT.
The flight was quarantined, away from the airport proper. Security was tight, with helicopters hovering overhead, fighters on vigil further out, and ambulances, fire tenders and carloads of FBI agents lining the runway.
Shortly after the plane rolled to a halt, boarding ladders were moved into position. FBI agents boarded the flight and off-loaded the passenger. Air India Deputy Regional Finance Manager Vinod Suri told rediff.com that two people - "one male and one female" - had been taken off the flight.
"The police knew who they were looking for since they headed straight for those people," a passenger told rediff.com.
The couple were taken for FBI questioning, in a posse of 12 vehicles. As per procedure, any incident involving an airborne plane comes under FBI jurisdiction.
A police car then escorted the plane back to its assigned gate, to permit the remaining passengers to disembark.
Officials on site described the offloading of the two passengers as a precautionary measure. If the threat perception had been serious, they would have shut down the airport, officials added.
FBI agents indicated after questioning the passenger that there was no suspicion attached to him, and that he did not "bear the slightest resemblance" to any terrorist on any wanted list.
CBS News claimed that the screener may have filed a false report following an altercation with the passenger at Heathrow.
Earlier in the day, as FBI agents gathered at JFK airport awaiting the arrival of the flight, agency spokesman Peter Margolin told rediff.com, "There is someone on that flight we want to interview."
Margolin said he had no idea whether the rest of the passengers on board -- said to be 370 in total -- were aware of what is happening. "I have no indication from here," he said. Officials meanwhile said that the fighters were shadowing the commercial airliner from a distance so as to not alarm the passengers.
Bi-national air defense command North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) had also launched aircraft to follow the flight in to New York, and said they were "monitoring the situation from the air."
NORAD spokesman Maj. Douglas Martin told rediff.com that he could not give away "operational information," because of the sensitivity of the situation.
"We're keeping our cards close to the chest here," he said.
"NORAD is in the air, and watching the situation closely," he said.
An Associated Press report meanwhile indicated that Federal Aviation Administration officials were in touch with the pilots of the flight. The pilots, who are in a reinforced cockpit, showed no sign of alarm, the agency quoted officials as saying.
Officials indicated that there was always the possibility that it could turn out to be a false alarm, but the authorities were in no mood to take chances and the FBI was acting with "an abundance of caution".
Air India's Deputy Regional Finance Manager (USA and Canada) Vinod Suri meanwhile told rediff.com that "everything on board is normal". The AI office was in touch with the flight crew, headed by pilot Captain D Mukherjee.
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
