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.

[MosesKnows]

the man who boarded a jetliner with possible explosives

Until the possible part of "possible explosives" is revealed what possible interest could there be in this person?

[pollwatcher]

>I suggested we use bomb sniffing pigs

PLUS, they would be an unpleasant experience for islamic extremist!

[Oldeconomybuyer]

From PMSNBC's website:

Authorities said the man’s passport was almost certainly false. The radio news network Europe One reporting that the man told FBI officials that his real name was Addel Him Rarrajid and that he came from Sri Lanka.  However, French police on Sunday identified the man as Tariq Raja, a Sri Lankan national traveling on a British passport.
       The French police, who opened an investigation on Sunday into the incident, said Raja’s identity and nationality were learned from sources in the United States. The police would not specify whether the information came from U.S. law enforcement authorities, government aviation officials or American Airlines.
       The Boston Globe reported Sunday that although the man told a passenger that he was Jamaican, a passenger said he was told that Reid had conversed with a crew member in Arabic. But an FBI official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the man was not of Middle Eastern descent, contrary to earlier speculation.
       Europe One reported that FBI officials found a map of Brussels in the man’s possession, with crosses marked on certain streets, leading investigators to believe that he had spent some time in Brussels. Authorities in Belgium were investigating his activities in that country.

[OldFriend]

Too ugly to get any dates so he opted for the 72 virgins???

[Tunehead54]

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.

Good point! Maybe the days of online "pick your seat assignment" should be over. If not, at least the security should carefully profile seat assignments in "critical areas".

From the pics of this dude I wouldn't have let him within 3 miles of an airliner. No bags checked or carry-ons on a transatlantic flight? "Well he had a passport ..." - from Holland where they recently had thousands of blank passports stolen ... Looks like they hammered his left eye pretty good. Way to go guys!

[Chad Fairbanks]

Why... whatever do you mean? John Walker was merely an irresponsible youth who was pursuing his religious beliefs, looking to experience diversity with the peaceful Taliban and was wrongfully attacked by imperialist american yankee running dogs without just cause... {barf}

;0)

[Die_Hard Conservative Lady]

I say racial profiling is the only answer! If in doubt, throw 'em off the plane, better yet don't let them on in the first place, we need to get more aggressive in detering these people.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Substance in shoe of passenger on flight diverted to Boston tests positive for explosives -AP Breaking News
(12-23) 07:56 PST BOSTON (AP) -- A substance in the sneakers of a passenger whose attempts to ignite them forced a jetliner to land in Boston has tested positive for explosives, The Associated Press has learned. The man on Paris-...

[KSCITYBOY]

Talk show just said he IS Muslem. Dollars to dog dirt he's one on bin ladens guys.

[waxhaw]

And this is where NO RACIAL PROFILING gets you. This guy's mere appearance should have rung alarm bells all over the place... instead they allowed him to board the plane. From what I've read of the passengers' response to the stewardess's call for help the passengers had already profiled the guy and had planned accordingly. Good on them (bad on the government "security" efforts/jokes/farce).

[KSCITYBOY]

Western culture is a threat to radical islam therefore this is not about country it's about our culture and Christians being seen as the great satan to these morons. The US represents the "great satan" to these people - They need to be eliminated ASAP

[FITZ]

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

Political correctness prevents people from having good sense. Anyone who boarded the plane with someone who looks like this guy deserved to blow up in the plane for being ignorant about current events and reality. Anyone who thinks frisking American grannies is going to prevent more tragedies also doesn't have much sense.

[cardinal4]

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.

Quite right,kinda hard to give a statement with no fu***ng teeth.

[cardinal4]

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?

Exactly,the French USED to be pretty good at this security stuff.If this guy isnt a profile,I dont know who is.

[FITZ]

A substance in the sneakers of a passenger whose attempts to ignite

If the plane had exploded, we'd have been told it was nothing more than some kind of malfunction. We'd be shown pictures of the tail and told it was just another plane with a tail that fell off during the flight.

[CindyDawg]

Guest on Fox right now praising the crew for actions. He can't bring himself to say anything about the passengers though.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

This is how you post a link:

< a href="put the web address between the quotes"> link </a>

[angkor]

identified by French police as Tariq Raja

Interesting. He may be Sri Lankan, but Tariq is a Pakistani name.

[tiki]

And was he winking at you too!

[Travis McGee]

If the plane had exploded, we'd have been told it was nothing more than some kind of malfunction.

You got that right.