5 Men Detained After Plane Lands in N.J.

[johnnie]

"NEWARK, N.J. - Authorities on Saturday boarded an American Airlines plane and detained five men after it landed at Newark Liberty International Airport, according to a spokesman for the airport's operator.

The plane was bound from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport when an air marshal notified authorities of five men he considered suspicious, according to Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Port Authority police took the five men into custody immediately after the plane landed at 3:20 p.m., LaVorgna said.

LaVorgna did not have more details on why the men were considered suspicious. The five men remained in custody at the airport Saturday evening. The
FBI had been notified and were expected to take over the investigation, LaVorgna said.

All other passengers on the plane had been released."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060506/ap_on_re_us/passengers_detained_3

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. Let me guess...U. S. citizens who have Middle Eastern ancestry?

[AlamoDemoc]

2. or better yet one of 200.000 US citizens on the NO-Fly-Zone list

on edit...I meant to say; 5 of unlucky unsuspecting US citizens on the "no fly list"

[johnnie]

3. Five of them

I guess :shrug:

[AlamoDemoc]

4. see my edit post...I type fast, but you are faster

:)

[Pavulon]

24. Nope

Angolans and an Israeli..

[thefool_wa]

5. Just read this at CNN

I hate it when the AP issues blurbs with no real info. This is the type of thing that isn't really news until we know why.

I will be following this though, you never know. Probably, just like everything else, the new "anti-terror" laws are serving more as "enhanced law enforcement" laws. These guys were probably talking about something they shouldn't have been talking about within earshot of a marshall and bingo.

Hell, I would bet that saying "Osama Bin Laden is just misunderstood" would be enough to catch the ear of an air marshal and provoke a response. My money, though, is on domestic criminal activity. We'll see...

[ktlyon]

23. probably just a group of passengers talking about how bad George is

His incompetence is being talked about by complete strangers these days. The Air Marshall though he was being a good patriotic American, protecting his president or maybe not

[ikojo]

6. Bush's poll numbers are going down...gotta

ramp up the fear factor for the sheep.

Keep 'em scared.....

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. All released, no charges

The dimwitted anchor on CBS asked Randall Pinkston at the scene: "So, is this a case of air marshalls doing their job or an instance of overreaction?"

Um, dumwitted anchor, you know that a journalist has no business making that judgment, right?

Idiots.

[Jane Austin]

8. I don't think they do know anymore. :(

n/t

[thefool_wa]

9. Its good to know

That random travelers can be arrested and detained at the whim of an air marshal.

As DHS Head Chertoff(sp) has said, "The Department of Homeland Security's job is not to promote security, but rather to keep the public informed of the threat as efficiently as possible." (may be a paraphrase, it is taken from a DU discussion a couple of months ago). Am I the only one that reads that as "Our job is to keep people afraid"?

You need efficient threat awareness? Jack-boot five guys on a domestic flight and see how everyone's hackles go up for a minute, then release them without explanation. Confusion is, after all, the most efficient way to spread fear.

Great job guys, I feel less safe already.

:wtf:

[rodeodance]

10. i heard a similar comment --but don't know which network I was listening

to. MY thought---why it always a binary--yes or no questin.

[jesuisbern]

11. oops.

They were Angolan military personnel who had just attended helicopter training conducted by the U.S. military in Texas. So they were essentially guilty of having dark skin and speaking a foreign language, while carrying "flight materials".

[WhiteTara]

12. hey! Welcome to DU

jesuisbern :hi:

[rainbow4321]

13. Update: 4 Angolans and an Israeli(attended a helicopter training session)

Poor guys...guess they were carrying the material that they had gotten at a helicopter training session and the other passengers freaked.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/050606dndnatdetained.6aeb7cd.html

Five airline passengers speaking in foreign languages and carrying “aircraft flight materials” were briefly detained Saturday until authorities determined they were simply returning to their home countries after attending a U.S. helicopter training school.

Fellow passengers on American Airlines Flight 1874, which had departed from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, became suspicious of the men, said Steven Siegel, a spokesman for the FBI's Newark office.

The men — identified only as four Angolan military personnel and an Israeli — had attended helicopter training school in Texas, Siegel said.

<snip>
After being questioned by authorities, the men were released around 6 p.m., Siegel said.

[johnnie]

14. Honestly

I might have been a little curious too if I was on that plane.

[HuffleClaw]

16. guilt of 'flying while being non-white'

'them furriners is speaking funny! they've got some airplane stuff with 'em!'

what a disgrace. racial profiling, sanctioned by the authorities.

[IndianaGreen]

15. Crew noticed at least one man reading ‘aviation manuals,’ source says

Feds detain, then release 5 passengers on flight

Crew noticed at least one man reading ‘aviation manuals,’ source says

MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 7:20 p.m. ET May 6, 2006

NEWARK, N.J. - Law enforcement officials on Saturday boarded an American Airlines flight at Newark Liberty International Airport and detained five foreign-born passengers who had been acting suspiciously, NBC News reports.

The men were interviewed and later released from custody, according to WNBC-TV.

A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told NBC News that a crew member noticed at least one of the men reading “aviation manuals” and notified the pilot of Flight 1874 from Dallas. The pilot then radioed ahead and asked law enforcement officials to meet the flight at Newark airport.

<snip>

Two of the detainees are believed to be of Angolan descent and one may be of Israeli descent, according to a senior government official.

The official also said they may all have been students at a flight school or flight repair school and at least some of them were reading “aviation manuals” of some kind.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11909506/

[peacebuzzard]

17. another case of overreaction.

I suppose no one bothered to even speak with them. Or would they know the difference between Arabic and Portuguese?

[Pikku]

18. Eunice Stone reported them. nm.

.

[0007]

19. The moral of this story is ya better watch what you read

when you're flying.

[uppityperson]

20. The Missing 5 Hijackers! OMG OMG OMG OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

:rofl:

[ConcernedCanuk]

21. My decision to NEVER revisit the USA in my lifetime seems wiser by the day

.
.
.

I have holidayed in California and Florida, traveled through over 25 states,

and sometimes just taken the southern route around Lake Ontario state-side from Hamilton to Kingston.

I ain't gonna EVER cross that border of my own free will as long as I live

The US has just gone plain nuts IMO

[patriothackd]

22. Five people who look suspicious:

GW.
Cheney.
Rummy.
Condi.
Rove.