Washington, April 08: US air marshals on Wednesday night subdued a Qatari man who authorities say tried to “light his shoes on fire” on United Flight 663 from Washington Reagan National Airport.
The United Airlines flight from Washington landed safely in Denver last night and the passenger was taken into custody after reports of a possible disturbance on the flight, US security officials said.
The plane was surrounded by security vehicles at Denver International Airport. ABC said authorities identified the suspect as a diplomat in the Qatari embassy in Washington.
“TSA (Transportation Security Administration) is monitoring an incident on board United Airlines flight 663 … after receiving initial reports that a Federal Air Marshal responded to a passenger possibly causing a disturbance on board this aircraft,” the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.
Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Kristin Lee said the man is being interviewed by law enforcement officials in Denver.
Two officials say the man is a Qatari diplomat who has been in the United States for years.
Unlike the Christmas Day bomb attempt on an Detroit-bound airliner, officials say it is not immediately clear what the man was trying to do something harmful like start a fire or explosion, or something as innocent as smoke a cigarette.
Officials insisted that it was still too early to tell whether the incident was an attempted act of terrorism or a giant misunderstanding.
A media hot line at Denver International Airport says the United Flight 663 from Washington to Denver was met by FBI and TSA officials around 7 pm MDT.
On Christmas Day 2009, a Nigerian man was arrested for trying to set off explosives hidden in his underwear on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
In December 2001, Richard Reid, a self-admitted member of al Qaeda, was subdued on an trans-Atlantic flight diverted to Boston. He had been attempting to detonate explosives hidden in his shoes. Reid pleaded guilty to eight counts related to terrorism and was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
-Agencies