NBC: Passenger subdued aboard United jet
Man may just have been smoking on flight from D.C. to Denver
A Qatari diplomat sneaking a smoke in an airplane bathroom sparked a bomb scare Wednesday night on a flight from Washington to Denver, law enforcement officials said.
The passenger was detained by a federal air marshal, but no explosives were found and it’s believed the man meant no harm, senior law enforcement officials said.
United Flight 663, a Boeing 757 with 157 passengers and six crew members aboard, landed safely at Denver International Airport, airline and airport officials said.
Federal officials told NBC News that a half hour before the jet landed, a flight attendant smelled smoke just as a passenger was coming out of a restroom and alerted an air marshal. The marshal confronted the man, and there were initial reports that the man said he was trying to light his shoe.
But NBC News reported that the man said he was putting out a cigarette, which he smoked in the restroom, on the sole of his shoe.
No explosives were found on the man, and a search of the plane with bomb-detecting dogs also turned up no explosives. And a federal official said the man was wearing sandals.
Sources told NBC News that the passenger was a Qatari diplomat in his mid-20s who was assigned to the embassy in Washington. The man may have full diplomatic immunity.
After the pilot declared an emergency, military jets scrambled and escorted the jet into Denver, where the plane remained in a secure area, NBC affiliate WRC reported. Homeland Security officials said the FAA notified pilots of all other other airplanes in the air.
Denver was a scheduled stop on the flight from Reagan National Airport to Las Vegas.
The incident follows an attempted bombing on Christmas Day by a Nigerian man who tried to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear on a flight to Detroit from Amsterdam. The suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was burned in the incident, which was foiled by passengers.
The Christmas attempt led to airport clampdowns and mandatory screening of air travelers from 14 countries. Qatar is not among the 14.
Last week, the United States announced new security measures to replace the mandatory screening.
The 14 countries were those on the U.S. list of “state sponsors of terrorism” — Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria — as well as Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.
Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Nigeria — U.S. partners in the fight against al Qaida — were angered at being on the list.
