"Flight diverted to Boston after passenger tries to ignite `improvised explosives'"

Saturday, December 22, 2001

Flight diverted to Boston after passenger tries to ignite `improvised
explosives'


BOSTON (AP) -- A passenger on a jetliner bound from Paris to Miami tried to
ignite an "improvised explosive" in his shoe Saturday, but the crew and
fellow passengers subdued him, authorities said. The plane, escorted by
military jets, landed safely in Boston.

The suspect, identified as Richard Reid, was taken into custody by the FBI.
Officials said he was alone traveling on a British passport, which may have
been fake.

"I'm told the flight attendant was drawn to him by the smell of sulfur from
a lit match, and then challenged him as to what he was doing," said Thomas
Kinton, interim executive director of the Massachusetts Port Authority,
which runs Logan International Airport.

The flight attendant intervened after the man tried to light his shoe on
fire, and the 6-foot-4 Reid resisted and bit her, Massport spokeswoman Laura
White said.

Passengers subdued him, belting him into his seat. Two doctors used the
airplane's onboard medical kit to sedate him, and the man's shoe, which had
protruding wires, was removed.

Two F-15 fighter jets escorted the plane, American Airlines Flight 63, to
Logan, where it landed at 12:50 p.m. with police, fire and bomb squads
standing by. The 185 passengers and 12 crew members were taken off safely.

"They X-rayed the shoe and found that in the heel, there were holes drilled,
and there looked to be a detonator wire, and the substances consistent with
(the explosive) C-4," White said.

The shoe was taken from the 767 jetliner, rendered harmless and taken to an
FBI laboratory for analysis, White said.

White House officials monitored the situation throughout the afternoon and
President Bush received two briefings, spokesman Scott McClellan said.
Administration officials also consulted with acting Gov. Jane Swift's
office.

Swift praised those who reacted quickly after the suspect confronted the
attendant.

"The flight attendants and passengers who helped subdue the suspect showed
great bravery and poise in what was obviously a very dangerous situation,"
she said in a statement. "Their heroic acts may have potentially saved the
lives of the nearly 200 people on board Flight 63."

White said Reid's passport, issued in Belgium three weeks ago, was
"questionable." He boarded the plane without luggage or additional
identification.

Reid was being interrogated at the airport by the FBI. The other passengers
were also being questioned, White said.

The intervention on the flight "appeared to have prevented something very
serious from occurring," Kinton said.

The FBI's Kim McAllister confirmed that one man was in FBI custody for
"interference with a flight crew," but had not been arrested.

An official with the British Foreign Office, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said, "We are seeking normal consular access as we would with any
U.K. citizen."

C-4 is a military plastic explosive. Its main ingredient is RDX, which is
also used in fireworks. The whitish, puttylike substance can be easily
molded by hand, and can be detonated if burned.

The explosive was used in the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen,
killing 17 U.S. sailors and wounding 39.

Passenger Allison Cohen, 21, of Wayland, Mass., exited the plane and
telephoned her father to tell him she was all right. He drove to the
airport, where police allowed him to speak to her briefly.

"I'm doing better after I saw her," said Jeff Cohen of Newport, R.I. His
daughter, a college student studying in Paris, was on her way to Florida for
a vacation.

He said she told him she had not seen the scuffle, which took place in the
coach section.

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