Official reverses, confirms 2nd arrest from Flight 253

Detroit: A U.S. Customs official reversed himself Friday, admitting a passenger from Northwest Flight 253 was placed in handcuffs, searched and released after a security dog alerted officers to the passenger's carry-on luggage.
Ronald G. Smith, chief U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer in the Detroit area, sent an e-mail to The Detroit News late Thursday apologizing that the information on the passenger -- which was made public by a pair of Taylor attorneys, Kurt and Lori Haskell, who were passengers on the flight -- was not officially announced earlier.
FBI officials had said only one man from the flight was arrested. That man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian being held at the Milan federal prison, is charged with trying to destroy an aircraft and taking a destructive device aboard an aircraft.
He created a small fire before landing when he tried to set off explosive chemicals hidden in his underwear, according to court records. Passengers jumped on him and put out the blaze with the help of the flight crew, witnesses said.
The Haskells told federal investigators they saw another man being questioned by federal officials and led away from the airport baggage area in handcuffs after a sniffer dog reacted to something in the man's carry-on luggage.
The couple said the man, who appeared to be in his early 30s and of Indian descent, was taken to a room for questioning and later led out of that room in handcuffs.
In previous statements to the media, Smith had said the Haskells' account was a composite of two events that occurred at the airport around the time passengers got off Flight 253. The incidents were unrelated to the terrorist incident, Smith had said.
Yet in the e-mail, which also was sent to the couple, Smith said he had just received information he did not have previously and hoped "it will clear up the matter."
Smith said a second man from Flight 253 was handcuffed, escorted to a room where he was interviewed and searched. Nothing was found. The man was not arrested or detained, and no further information was available about him, Smith said.
02/01/01 Jennifer Chambers and Paul Egan/The Detroit News, USA

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Categories: Airports Jan 2010, Foreign Jan 2010, Safety Jan 2010