Posted on 12/23/2001 10:28:19 AM PST by Land_of_Lincoln_John
The man arrested for allegedly trying to blow up a transatlantic flight from France was turned away from a Paris airport the day before, police officials said.
A US senator said the passenger, caught Saturday carrying suspected explosives in the heels of his shoes on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, was on a suicide mission.
A French police source said airline staff at Charles de Gaulle airport had turned the man away at the check-in because he was "behaving bizarrely, was agitated and had a worrying look."
His passport also appeared brand new, although police had verified that it had not been reported stolen.
"The next day, the man passed through, again without baggage. Usually someone taking a long haul flight without luggage should be reported to police in the country he boarded, but this was not done," the police source said.
Passengers and crew overpowered the man, who appeared to be attempting to ignite explosives mid-flight aboard the jet with 197 passengers and crew aboard.
The plane was diverted to Boston where the man was arrested.
French police said the man identified himself to Boston police as Sri Lankan national Abdel Rahim, a Muslim.
He had been carrying a suspected fake British passport which was issued three weeks earlier in Belgium in the name of Richard Colvin Reid, born in 1973.
Anti-terrorist prosecutors in Paris are to launch an investigation into the incident.
Laura White, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Airport Authority, said the material in the man's shoe was consistent with C-4, a plastic explosive used for both industrial and military purposes.
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