Footwear focus of airport security

12/24/2001

By JAY LINDSAY
Associated Press Writer

BOSTON — Airport security is being turned up yet another notch after authorities said a man with a one-way ticket walked onto an American Airlines jetliner with explosives in his shoes and tried to ignite them during the flight.

Preliminary FBI tests discovered the explosives in the man's sneakers, officials said Sunday. He was charged with the federal crime of assaulting a flight crew, and the FBI said more charges were likely.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Sunday ordered U.S. airlines and airports to be more vigilant in detecting passengers boarding planes with explosives in their shoes.

The FAA order follows a similar one issued Dec. 11 warning that hijackers might try to smuggle weapons in their footwear, and it posses a challenge for U.S. airports.

In the United States, the current generation of walk-through machines that screen passengers for weapons can't detect plastic explosives, and most airline passengers and their carry-on bags aren't checked for explosives by other means, such as bomb-sniffing dogs.

A potential tragedy was averted on Saturday's flight when two flight attendants and at least a half-dozen passengers aboard the Boeing 767 jetliner grabbed the man and used belts to strap him into his seat while two doctors used drugs from the airplane's medical kit to sedate him.

The hulking suspect's identity remains unclear. He was listed in court papers Sunday as Richard C. Reid, 28, the name on his British passport, and officials at Scotland Yard said they believed the suspect was a British national. But French authorities identified him as a Sri Lankan named Tariq Raja.

Reid was charged in a federal criminal complaint with intimidation or assault of a flight crew causing interference with their duties. He faces a maximum 20 years in prison if convicted.

An initial court appearance was set Monday morning, the FBI said. Reid was being held under constant watch Sunday in a jail in Plymouth, according to Mike Seele, spokesman for the Plymouth County Sheriff's Department.

Officials at the British consulate in Boston have arranged to meet with Reid before Monday's hearing, a consulate spokeswoman said. Authorities have been unable to connect him with any terrorist organization.

Passengers said they had noticed the tall, ponytailed man standing alone and stone-faced before boarding.

``He had a blank look,'' said Nicholas Green, 27. ``The people who had seen him remembered him.''

During the flight, the suspect, who was sitting behind the wing in the coach section, lit a match, but put it in his mouth when confronted by flight attendant Hermis Moutardier, according to an FBI affidavit.

She told the captain and returned to see Reid with a match held to the tongue of his sneaker, then noticed a wire protruding from the shoe. She tried to grab the sneaker, but Reid allegedly pushed her to the floor, and she screamed for help.

Another flight attendant, Cristina Jones, intervened and the 6-foot-4 Reid bit her, authorities said.

``He bit Ms. Jones on the thumb and Ms. Moutardier threw water in his face,'' FBI agent Margaret G. Cronin said in the statement.

That's when passengers reached Reid and subdued him. The plane, carrying 183 passengers and 14 crew members, was escorted to Logan Airport by two F-15 fighter jets.

French police are probing how Reid eluded increased security measures at Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris, where Flight 63 originated.

French authorities said Reid had tried to board the same flight a day earlier but was turned away after raising suspicions. They said the suspect — who also has gone by a third name, Abdel Rahim — was given permission to board after intensive questioning, but by then had missed Friday's flight. He had only one small bag with him and said he was traveling to Antigua to visit relatives, police said.

While U.S. airlines have a congressionally mandated deadline of Jan. 18 for having a system in place to inspect all checked baggage for explosives, walk-through devices that could detect them on passengers are still in the development stage.

``It's a hole that needs to be looked at,'' said Capt. John Cox, executive air safety chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association.

Airline experts say the only way to prevent a passenger from bringing an explosive on board is singling out potential terrorists through computerized profiles and then calling in bomb-sniffing dogs or conducting body and clothing searches.

``Profiling is the key,'' said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, an advocacy group. ``Security is composed of two parts. The first is who are you and the second is what are you carrying.''

Associated Press reporters John Solomon in Washington and Pamela Sampson in Paris contributed to this report.