How does one get on an international flight without a passport?

[Karmadillo]

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091228/METRO/912280382/1409/Passenger-says-accused-terrorist-got-help-boarding

Passenger says accused terrorist got help boarding
Paul Egan / The Detroit News

Taylor -- An attorney who was aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day says he saw another man come to the assistance of accused bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab when he tried to board the airplane in Amsterdam without a passport.

Kurt Haskell, a Taylor attorney, told FBI agents what he saw near the boarding gate at Amsterdam when he was questioned at Detroit Metropolitan Airport following Abdulmutallab's alleged attempt to blow up the aircraft, said Haskell's wife Lori, who is also an attorney and was traveling with her husband.

"The two of us were sitting on the floor playing cards," Lori Haskell told The Detroit News. "My husband noticed two men walk up to the ticket counter lady. The only reason he noticed them is that he thought they were really a mismatched pair."

The man they later learned was Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, wore older, scraggly clothing, but the man who was assisting him, who appeared to be of Indian descent, was dressed in what looked like an expensive suit and shoes, she said.

The well-dressed man told the ticket agent: "We need to get this man on the plane," Haskell recounted. "He doesn't have a passport."

The ticket agent told the man nobody was allowed to board without a passport, to which the well-dressed man replied: "We do this all the time; he's from Sudan," Haskell said, adding she and her husband believe the man was trying to pass Abdulmutallab off as a Sudanese refugee.

The two were then directed down a corridor to talk to a manager, she said.

"We never saw him again until he tried to blow up our plane," Haskell said of Abdulmutallab.

more...

[HipChick]

1. until the story is verified...I say BS..n/t

[Karmadillo]

8. Their claim about a second arrest in Detroit appears to have been verified despite an FBI denial.

The claim is below and the denial and apparent verification follow. Suggests they're not making it up, but I guess we'll find out (or maybe not, given the transparency level of these things).

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/12/com...

<edit>

FBI also arrested a different Indian man while we were held in customs after a bomb sniffing dog detected a bomb in his carry on bag and he was searched after we landed. This was later confirmed while we were in customs when an FBI agent said to us "You are being moved to another area because this area is not safe. Read between the lines. Some of you saw what just happened."(The arrest of the other Indian man). I am not sure why this hasn't made it into any news story, but I stood about 15-20 feet away from the other Indian man when he was cuffed and arrested after his search.

What also didn't make the news is that we were held on the plane for 20 minutes AFTER IT LANDED!. A bomb could have gone off then. This wasn't too smart of security to not let us off the plane immediately.

<edit>

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/12/fli...

<edit>

About an hour after landing, Haskell said he saw another man being taken into custody. But a spokeswoman from the FBI in Detroit said Mutallab was the only person taken into custody.

<edit>
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roey-rosenblith/over-detr...

Roey Rosenblith.Director of Village Energy, Uganda
Posted: December 27, 2009 10:30 AM

<edit>

We stayed in the baggage claim area for 3 hours without any word of what happened next. We were only allowed into the bathroom one person at a time by an officer who guarded the door. Behind the line of our immediate security detail there were hundreds of other police officers moving around back and forth, as if they were on they were on the night watch guarding a military base from a potential threat. What they were doing was unclear. The only thing that I recall happening is seeing an Indian guy off to the side, an older gentleman wearing a gray suit leaning against the wall. Suddenly there was a police officer next to him pulling his arms back and pulling handcuffs on him. The man didn't struggle, the bags which seemed to be his were left there, and he and the police officer disappeared around the corner.

more...

[HipChick]

13. I love conspiracy theories..but this one has BS stamped all over it..

..I've seen people yanked off flights I came in on, due to visa issues,warrants etc..There's nothing to verify that this was the same man, was there really only one indian man in one suit that day..

earlier thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7338742&mesg_id=7338742

[Karmadillo]

18. From their account, it was a different Indian from the one who helped at check in.

Beats me if it's BS. Seems too early to tell. Since the second part of their story seems to check out, might mean there's something to the first part. Then again, who knows?

[spanone]

12. i agree, it seems somewhat implausible....

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. Of course it's BS

How often do people check in and then sit down by the counter and play cards?

:rofl:

[notadmblnd]

2. well that's not the least bit odd, is it?

[MadMaddie]

3. Good Question!

US citizens can barely get on a US plane without valid ID. Yet this piece of crap got on without a passport? Who else is involved in this mess?

[FreakinDJ]

4. They were testing US Security

looks like they found quite a few glitches

[Truth2Tell]

5. Could be bribery.

Maybe this is a channel used by Sudanese refugees, bribery to gate officials to sneak on refugees. Maybe the plotters took advantage of a criminal enterprise already in place.

[Motown_Johnny]

10. that was my assumption.

[CJCRANE]

6. I assume only a diplomat

or govt agent of some sort could do that.

[timeforpeace]

15. And a high ranking one at that. This could get interesting.

[Nikki Stone1]

7. If it was the boarding gate in Amsterdam, then there is no "accidental" explanation

Europe is on board with the "War on Terror". If he got on without a passport, it was because he was allowed on at a high level. I personally doubt the passport story, but you never know. They have to find some way to explain how, in this post-911 environment, a mere amateur could get through all that airport security.

[Hannah Bell]

9. cia or other intelligence services.

[timeforpeace]

11. At least they seem credible. Hopefully this is investigated thoroughly.

[Bozita]

14. Detroit's WXYZ-TV interviewed the Haskells today. Link to video...

http://www.wxyz.com/news/story/Taylor-Couple-Says-Terror-Suspect-Had-Help/fI_0YchtfEq9QiFZYVvWdg.cspx

[WeDidIt]

17. One doesn't

He had a valid Visa for the US. The State Department verified this. He had it since June of 2008.

[Way2go]

19. It's all in the name

Patsy