This story has an update. Admin Moderator - if this merits a new thread, would you move it please? I thought it more of an update.
Suspicious liquids lead to closure of airport terminal; officials detain former Blackman Township woman
Friday, August 18, 2006
By Scott Hagen
shagen@citpat.com -- 768-4929
The mother of a former Blackman Township woman -- who was detained Thursday after two bottles she was carrying on to a flight tested positive for explosive residue -- wants her daughter's name cleared.
Samia Qayyum of Blackman Township said today that federal and airline agents wrongly detained her daughter as she attempted to board a flight to Detroit from the airport near Huntington, W.Va. Qayyum declined to give her daughter's name.
"We are a respectable and honorable family," Qayyum said. "She is a very good, decent girl. She's not only a good Muslim, she's a good American."
The 28-year-old daughter lived in Blackman Township for about six years before moving to Barboursville, W.Va., last September with her husband. The daughter, who is four-months pregnant, works as a substitute teacher and was on her way home to Blackman Township to visit family when she was stopped at the terminal.
Authorities found two bottles of liquid in her carry-on luggage that twice tested positive for explosive residue. Tests later that day turned up no explosives, said Capt. Jack Chambers, head of the State Police Special Operations unit.
The airport terminal was evacuated and shut down for nearly 10 hours.
Amy von Walter, a Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman, said there were four items containing liquids. A machine that security checkpoint screeners use to test for explosives registered positive results for two containers, and a canine team also got a positive hit, she said.
The TSA screening looks for a range of explosives residue, some of which can be found on common household items, said TSA spokesman Darrin Kayser.
"It was just a facewash, which had a splash of some chemical on there," Qayyum said. "Anything could have splashed on it. A drop of bleach cannot make a bomb."
No charges were filed against the woman, who was taken from the airport by federal authorities at 5 p.m., Salyers said.
Qayyum said her daughter was targeted because of her nationality and Islamic headcover.
The FBI did not immediately return messages Thursday night seeking comment on the racial profiling allegations.
U.S. authorities banned the carrying of liquids onto flights last week after British officials made arrests in an alleged plot to blow up U.S.-bound planes using explosives disguised as drinks and other common products.
The daughter was released late Thursday night and was scheduled to arrive back in Michigan today. How she'll get here is still in question.
"I told her they should put her on the next plane, but the more I think about it, I don't want to go through any more stress and I don't want to go through any more hassle," Samia said. "She's gone through enough already."
-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Here it is again- Mom knew there was "some chemical" splashed on the outside. It was this chemical that the swab test and canines alerted to. I am speculating, this is not fact, just opinion, that the mom and daughter know what the chemical was because they put it there. Just having a bottle of any liquid in carryon is suspicious enough because they warn you nine dozen times before getting in the line not to carry a liquid on the plane. Then to have a mere dash of "some chemical" that dogs alert on (dogs have opinions) and a chemical sniffer shows a red light for (machines do not have opinions), while the contents are innocent, spells probing to me.