French police identify suspect in Paris-Miami flight as a Sri Lankan national

AP ^ | 12-23-01 | PAMELA SAMPSON

[Oldeconomybuyer]

PARIS (AP) -- French police said Sunday the man who boarded a jetliner with possible explosives hidden in his shoes was a Sri Lankan national traveling on a British passport.

American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami was forced to make an emergency landing in Boston on Saturday after the passenger, identified by French police as Tariq Raja, tried to ignite what authorities called an improvised explosive in his sneakers.

[TheOtherOne]

The man (R) in federal custody accused of attempting to blow up American Airlines Flight 63 is taken from the Massachusetts State Police barracks at Logan International Airport in Boston in this image taken from Reuters TV footage, December 22, 2001. The flight was diverted to Boston after the man allegedly tried to set off an explosive in his shoe on the flight from Paris to Miami. The person on the left is not identified. (Reuters TV/Reuters)

RETRANSMISSION FOR IMPROVED QUALITY--An FBI agent, left, sits next to a suspect identified by authorities as Richard Reid, right, as he is transported in a car from State Police barracks at Logan International Airport in Boston Saturday, Dec. 22, 2001. Reid has been charged with interferring with a flight crew aboard American Airlines Flight 63 enroute from Paris to Miami after he tried to ignite an improvised explosive device, according to authorities. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) CAPTION -->

The man in federal custody accused of attempting to blow up American Airlines Flight 63 is taken from the Massachusetts State Police barracks at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, December 22, 2001. The flight was diverted to Boston after the man allegedly tried to set off an explosive in his shoe on the flight from Paris to Miami. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

[Oldeconomybuyer]

[EggsAckley]

Thank you. So, Tariq IS a Muslim name, that's what I thought.
Why are the French not screening their passengers better? What about the manifest lists
which are supposed to be submitted to the US? Does that apply to ALL countries, or only terrorist countries?
I say, let's make it ALL countries, if it already isn't.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Oops, sorry for the duplicate photos...

[Congressman Billybob]

Please, no "racial profiling" here. This could just as well been a little old lady from Des Moines who was coming back from Paris. [Insert clip here from Monty Python showing the "Hell's Grannies" on motorcycles.] (/sarcasm).

Congressman Billybob

Click here and go to "Listen to the Show" for yer Congresscritter's national radio stint, weekdays at 7:30 a.m., EST.

[cardinal4]

This guy just looks scary.

[TheOtherOne]

No problems, we both thought they were needed.

I am shocked that this guy, with the way he looks, heightened suspicions and everything that he was not immediately suspected and inspected.

[chainsaw]

What I still don't "get" is what he thought he would accomplish by giving himself a hotfoot. IQ test called for here, IMO.

I don't know anything about C-4 explosive. But from what I have been reading on the FR threads, he had enough C-4 in his shoe to blow a hole into the center fuel tank over which he was sitting. You don't need much C-4 when you have several hundred gallons of jet fuel under you.

[freedom_from_socialism]

He looks like younger Yasser Arafat.

[Wormwood]

It's quite obvious that we've been taken in by magician David Blaine yet again.

[laconic]

I don't know whether this skunk is Arab or Sri Lankan but he certainly is UGLY with a capital U!

[Trust but Verify]

This is a bit off-topic, but I found a video interview with a French passenger on Flt 63 on the BBC website that is a hoot. I'd post the link, but don't know how.

[chainsaw]

This guy just looks scary.

They said two doctors had sedated this guy on the plane. I supposed he has no idea where the hell he is at when that photo was take.

He also bit a flight attendant on the plane. If that SOB bit me the FBI would have a hard time getting any information out of him for a couple of weeks, and they would arrest me for attempted murder.

[Chad Fairbanks]

But... but... I'm a "minority" I can racially profile all I want, and the Left can't say s**t :0)

[arete]

IQ test called for here, IMO

This guy is just too dumb. Why didn't he just go to the restroom to set his shoelaces on fire? Maybe he was a terrorism school drop-out.

Richard W.

[Dane]

MSNBC's correspondent in London is reporting, that the name on the passport, Richard Reid, is name of a person who has a criminal background in England.

[Chad Fairbanks]

He didn't look scary, until the passengers got done with him, and he got pumped full of sedatives ;0)

[dennisw]

Another Muslim psycho killer it seems.

He failed so no virgins for him, just nasty cell mates who will want to play house with him.....after he is forced to shave and clean up.

[afz400]

As long as they let individuals who look like this on airplanes, I will not fly. If this guy doesn't look suspicious, then who does?

[MizSterious]

"...not ALL 'arab' terrorists are Arabs..."

For instance, John Walker.