Posted on 10/01/2007 7:33:57 AM PDT by raccoonradio
An irritable passenger offended by security grilling faces bomb threat charges in court today after reportedly telling Logan Airport security Saturday he was an Al-Qaeda terrorist here to “blow things up.”
Massport officials tell the Herald the 27-year-old man had a ticket on his bag from Dubai of the United Arab Emirates and security began asking him questions.
“He seemed aggravated and said ‘I’m Al-Qaeda and I’m here to blow things up,’ ” said Massport spokesman Phil Orlandella.
Orlandella said the man, Asfaw Ermiyas of Washington, D.C., was taken into custody at the AirTran gate Saturday night at 7:15 p.m.
He is set to be arraigned today in East Boston District Court on a charge of making a bomb threat.
Massport officials say Ermiyas was heading to Baltimore and listed his occupation as self-employed taxi driver.
State police confronted Ermiyas after he appeared to become annoyed with security questions. That’s when he lashed out, officials say.
Airport officials say they are treating the threats seriously, yet they believe his boasts were not a credible.
Massport officials sent a clear message today they won’t tolerate threats.
“This airport is not going to tolerate any outrageous threats of using a bomb or identifying themselves with a terrorist organization,” said Orlandella.
Orlandella praised gate security for not backing down from the suspect’s alleged threatening behavior.
This is the second bomb scare at Logan in the past two weeks. An MIT student, Star Simpson, 19, walked into the airport Sept. 21 with a circuit board strapped to her chest and carrying a glob of Play-Doh. She too was arrested and faces charges.
“Just co-operate with security, OK folks?”
Agreed! My bangle bracelet set off the alarm and it took awhile to figure it out. It is made of chrome. It was surprising to think that particular substance would alert. Also, because I had no idea the bracelet was chrome.
The TSA has a lot of people to screen and some idiot who thinks their time is more important that anyone else’s can really bring things to a halt.
Star Simpson did nothing wrong. It was an over reaction by the security at logan and once that was figured out they shouldn’t have charged her.
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