Suspects Removed at Gunpoint From Jets (NEW ATTEMPT)

AP ^ | September 14, 2001, 4:45 AM EDT | By JOHN SOLOMON

[TheOtherOne]

Suspects Removed at Gunpoint From Jets

By JOHN SOLOMON
Associated Press Writer

September 14, 2001, 4:45 AM EDT

WASHINGTON -- Up to 10 people of Middle Eastern descent were detained at two New York airports -- at least three removed at gunpoint from a Los Angeles-bound jet, sources told The Associated Press.

At least some of the people detained Thursday were carrying knives, according to published reports. Authorities were investigating whether the two groups -- detained at Kennedy and LaGuardia airports -- were more would-be hijackers or people related to the attack trying to flee the New York area.

One man was arrested with a fake pilot's license, Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said. Several of those detained had attempted to board airlines Tuesday around the time of the hijackings but were turned away and fled, a U.S. official requesting anonymity told the AP.

The incidents caused the region's three major airports _ Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark, N.J. -- to close again just hours after service was restored.

The Washington Post, citing unidentified government sources, reported that two armed groups of five people each were detained with knives, false identification and open tickets dated Tuesday _ the day of the attacks. ABC News also reported that those detained were carrying knives.

A source familiar with the workings of the airline industry told the AP that law enforcement officers secretly boarded a plane at Kennedy using a catering cart. The officers, with weapons drawn, then removed the three from the plane.

One of those being detained was believed to have had flight training similar to that obtained by Tuesday's hijackers, the U.S. official said. The Post reported that those detained had certificates from the same Florida training school attended by some members of Tuesday's hijackings.

A passenger on a San Jose-bound American Airlines jet at Kennedy told The New York Times that officers boarded and closely questioned about 15 people.

"Anyone with dark skin or who spoke with an accent was taken aside and searched," passenger Mike Glass of Seattle told the Times. "And then they went to any male with too much facial hair."

Also, the Times, quoting unidentified law enforcement sources, reported that two men were detained from a Saudi aircraft at Newark after being identified on a terrorist watch list.

Separately, new information emerged about Tuesday's events. A law enforcement source told the AP that the FBI was investigating an altercation at Kennedy on Tuesday, and trying to understand whether that incident might have been an aborted hijacking attempt.

Tuesday's incident occurred about 9 a.m. -- around the same time two hijacked jet airliners crashed into the World Trade Center towers. After passengers had boarded United Airlines Flight 23, bound for Los Angeles, officials told them it had been canceled

Three males refused to disembark and argued with the flight crew, who called airport security. The men vanished before security arrived, the source said.

There have been persistent, unconfirmed reports that a fifth hijacking had been attempted Tuesday but somehow averted.

(PROFILE (CO:AMR Corporation; TS:AMR; IG:TRV;) )

Copyright © 2001, The Associated Press

[KillerWabbit]

"Anyone with dark skin or who spoke with an accent was taken aside and searched," passenger Mike Glass of Seattle told the Times. "And then they went to any male with too much facial hair."

Has any liberal dared squawk about racial profiling yet?

[ForbesFan]

I think libs only get upset when it's a black, Latino, or Indian.

[piasa]

Give 'em time. No doubt they will.

Wonder where these groups were planning to go?

[Tarakotchi]

So I wonder if the suspects who got on the plane were carrying knives? If so, it doesn't say much for stepped-up security. If not, what could they accomplish?

[dennisw]

No problemo. This is being termed national profiling

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks for the post, TOO!

Click here to send a message of support to President Bush

Dubya On The Job

[The Raven]

I thought I read a short time ago that all terrorists had been identified - then we find some more - and they're boarding a plane.

They have this "cell" system.....so we can't be sure when or what the second shoe is.

[2sheep]

>>After passengers had boarded United Airlines Flight 23, bound for Los Angeles, officials told them it had been canceled

Being canceled is not the worse thing that could happen to Flight 23.

[cweese]

...hillary is going to get some pressure from her beloved relatives at the various muslim usa groups, and will likewise raise a national stench about their "suffering" (and their suffering children)...

[2sheep]

worse worst

[TheOtherOne]

They have this "cell" system.....so we can't be sure when or what the second shoe is.

I am an optimist, but a realist. I hope and pray the attacks are over, but there could certainly be more coming.

[Bogie]

She is saying nothing about "racial profiling." It was supposed to bring out the leftist vote!

[Two Thirds Vote Aye]

I thought I read a short time ago that all terrorists had been identified

The initial reports on Wednesday were that there were 50 identified, 40 accounted for and 10 AT LARGE.
I presume these new ones are in addition to the list of 50.

[mdittmar]

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20010914_94.html

Go here for follow up article.

[TheOtherOne]

THANKS

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Passengers on a Los Angeles-bound flight out of New York's John F.
Kennedy International Airport on Friday said police in combat gear stormed the plane and
apprehended as many as three people.

The Federal Aviation Administration shut down the three New York-area airports late on
Thursday due to "FBI activity," New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said, and the
airports remained closed early on Friday.

Tensions in New York are running at fever pitch after hijackers commandeered two commercial
flights out of Boston on Tuesday and crashed the planes into the landmark World Trade Center
twin towers in New York's financial district.

Thousands are feared dead in the attack that leveled the skyscrapers to massive piles of rubble.
Hijackers crashed a third plane into the Pentagon, the U.S. military headquarters outside
Washington, and a fourth jet crashed in Pennsylvania.

Local authorities and a federal law enforcement official in Washington would not confirm U.S.
television network and local media reports that police had thwarted two more hijacking attempts
at Kennedy and LaGuardia airports. Some of those arrested had flight crew bags and
certificates from a Florida flight school linked to Tuesday's hijackers, the reports said.

Jim Hunter, a passenger on the Kennedy flight, told ABC about 20 police officers, many in
paramilitary SWAT gear, stormed an American Airlines jetliner on Thursday afternoon, subduing
one man and handcuffing two others.

He said passengers on American Airlines Flight 133 to Los Angeles had sat on the tarmac for
hours before police boarded.

"About 20 or more police officers, many in SWAT gear with large guns all unholstered"stormed
the plane and screamed to the passengers to "hit the floor," Hunter said.

"There was a commotion going on ... about four or five rows behind me where they were
subduing a passenger and he was definitely resisting and trying to fight off," Hunter said.

"Two other passengers that were right in front of me were ultimately asked to go with
authorities as well" and were handcuffed and taken off the plane as well, he added.

Jim Olson, another passenger, gave NBC a similar account.

"There were at least probably half a dozen to a dozen SWAT team, armed SWAT team gunmen
that stormed through the back of the plane," Olson said. "They had us put our heads in the crash
position" and dragged out one to three people, he said.

A federal law enforcement official who asked not to be identified confirmed the Port Authority
made one arrest at JFK.

"Our joint terrorism task force and the FBI are looking into the matter and there are three other
incidents at airports into which FBI and joint chairs and task force are conducting an
investigation."

ABC and local reports said some of those arrested were carrying knives similar to those used in
Tuesday's hijackings.

On Thursday, Kerik told reporters police had arrested one man at Kennedy Airport who was
carrying false identification, and had detained five or six others.

Kerik said some of those detained or arrested were Arabs. The man arrested carried false
identification and a pilot's license and attempted to clear security. It was not immediately clear
whether the pilot's license was also false. Kerik said he did not know whether the arrest of the man at Kennedy airport was connected to Tuesday's attacks. "We can't tell at this point," he said.

[TennesseeProfessor]

Exactly my thought

[Lion's Cub]

The officers, with weapons drawn, then removed the three from the plane.

These three need to profusely thank those officers. The guns were drawn, I'm sure, to protect them from their fellow passengers, who would have loved to get their hands on them. Kudos to those LEO's, who were able to resist the temptation!

[The Raven]

>>I hope and pray the attacks are over

We need to keep our guard up. Like the old Russian Navy saying - for sailors capsized at sea -- "Trust in God, but keep rowing to shore"

[timestax]

Those terrorists must be retarted or on some kind of dope. To think that they could waltz in and not get caught does not make sense!