Posted on 01/15/2005 3:34:16 AM PST by Stoat
A MYSTERY IN THE SKIES
By Michelle Malkin · January 14, 2005 10:58 PM
Physician blogger Dr. Bob says one of his patients, a federal air marshal, told him about a foiled hijacking involving boxcutters hidden in overhead luggage bins:
He and his partner were assigned to a flight (the airline, airport, and destination were not disclosed) in their customary undercover security role. They boarded the airplane early in order to meet the flight attendants, at which time the cleaning crew was still on the airplane -- somewhat longer than expected. My patient and his partner sat together in seats near the middle of coach class.
It's hard to imagine, in a post-9/11 world, that terrorists would attempt another attack with box cutters. Also, Dr. Bob's patient did not disclose specifics--airport, airline, destination, etc.--that would facilitate confirmation. If anyone can provide more information, drop me a line. Whether or not the story is true, it highlights at least two important policy questions: 1. What kind of security measures are being undertaken with regard to clean-up crews and other ground personnel with access to airplanes? 2. Why does FAMS director Tom Quinn continue to enforce idiotic pre-boarding policies that expose marshals' identities to observant passengers? Update: The idea that terrorist operatives might be trying to smuggle razor blades as weapons onto planes is not pure fantasy. Last April, Pakistani illegal alien Fazal Karim was convicted on charges of carrying and attempting to carry concealed dangerous weapons in air transportation and of making false statements about his immigration status. Security officials at Dallas/Ft. Worth airport found 32 double-edged razor blades tucked in a coiled belt inside a cardboard box in Fazal Karim's carry-on luggage.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Schattman argued that Karim carried out a test run to aid terrorism. The Ft. Worth Star Telegram reported that security officers first noticed that Karim appeared to distance himself from his carry-on bag. After placing the bag on the conveyor belt leading to an X-ray machine, Karim did not walk through the adjacent magnetometer but selected one farther away. He offered FBI agents three different explanations for the blades, Schattman said. First, Karim said he used the blades to shave the bottom of his full beard. Then he said they were for a friend in Houston. Finally, he said he did not know the blades were in the bag. More: At a hearing in November, a federal agent testified that the names and phone numbers of the current directors of the civil aviation systems in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates were found in Karim's address book _ 10 years after he worked as a computer programmer for the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority.
In addition, I've found at least one other mention of a flight crew member discovering razor blades in blankets. Weird. Scary weird. Update II: Reader Eric makes some additional, on-target points... For me at least, there is another lesson in this story. |
:-D
Of course, if someone with a gun is incapacitated on a flight, who knows who might pick it up?
Aren't wild card arguments and conjecture fun? :D
wow...interesting...I was being purely hypothetical, though, just so you know. I'm not afraid of flying at all...I was just rolling around in my brain how I might feel if someone(s) suspicious like that got on a plane I was on...would I still not be afraid? I don't know...I was just curious.
Good information though. :)
I read somewhere that that story has been debunked.
Considering the access they are given to the a/c, it would seem logical to screen the cleaning crews.
"Considering the access they are given to the a/c, it would seem logical to screen the cleaning crews."
It would seem logical to screen them. But if they don't, then this wasn't the TSA's fault this time. I don't know if they do or don't. I just have never heard of them doing so.
YUP , those terrorists sure pulled a fastone in russia. I hope building inspectors are watching stuff closely. soon we'll have to XRay entire buildings.
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