Artist crayon "Trial Run"
Two Passengers Stopped Before Boarding Flight to Columbus by WBNS 10TV Staff Report
The Transportation Security Administration held two airplane passengers in Philadelphia for questioning as they were about to board a flight bound for Columbus.
But there are different versions as to exactly why and how long the two men were held.
According to Philadelphia television station KYW, a CBS affiliate, the pair flew from London Gatwick Aiport on Saturday aboard US Air flight 99. When one of the men left a bag unattended at Philadelphia International, TSA agents searched it. KYW reported Monday night that agents found various photographs of Columbus in the piece of luggage, along with a journal written in a mixture of English and Arabic. KYW says that sources from the TSA told them the content of the journal suggested the possibility of "ill will" expressed in the writings.
10 Investigates reporter Roger McCoy talked to a spokesman with U.S. Airways late Monday night. David Castelbetter says the two men were detained by Philadelphia airport police and the Transportation Security Administration in because of security concerns after they got off their London flight. The FBI was called in and the two men were questioned.
James Turgel, an FBI spokesman told 10TV that after the men were questioned for about 90 minutes, they were allowed to go on their way.
According to Turgel, they did not board their connecting USAir flight to Columbus. As a precaution, passengers aboard that Columbus flight were delayed for about 45 minutes while all the flight's luggage was re-screened. Nothing suspicious was found. And the FBI in Ohio said the two men were a non-threat.
But the KYW report conflicts with the Ohio FBI office version of events. The Philly station's story said the two men were questioned by the FBI for 15 hours, eventually released at 5:30 a.m. Sunday. The TV station reported that the two men then flew to Columbus. It said its sources with TSA report that the FBI is keeping the two men under surveillance here in Ohio.
However, the FBI told 10TV that the two men did not appear to be any sort of threat, and that they were not put under surveillance of any kind. That contradicts the Philadelphia story.