FBI: Dynamite found in luggage; student held

[vartan 0]

(CNN) -- Authorities were questioning a college student Friday after customs agents found what they suspect is a half-stick of dynamite in his checked luggage, the FBI said.

"It has not been tested, but it's believed to be a half-stick of dynamite," FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said.

The man is a U.S. citizen from Connecticut who is attending college in Pennsylvania, Dunlap said. He was flying on Continental Airlines Flight 52 from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Houston, Texas, which landed at 6 a.m. Friday, she said.

The man's name and age were not released. The Associated Press reported the man attended LaFayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. An airport spokesman said the man was about 21 years old.

Reports indicate that the man had bomb-making components in his luggage.

In Buenos Aires, Marcelo Sain, head of Argentina's Airport Security Police, told local television that authorities found "a Coca-Cola bottle with mud, and inside it was a tube with ammonium nitrate, a little bit of dynamite and a detonator," according to Reuters.

In Houston, KTRK-13 quoted law enforcement sources as saying that the man had a blasting cap, a homemade fuse and a quarter-pound of ammonium nitrate, in addition to the dynamite.

Mark Mancuso, spokesman for the Houston Airport System, said he could not confirm the allegations but that "some additional items of contraband may have been found."

Two law enforcement sources told CNN that the additional items may have been bomb-making materials.

The man was going through a "typical inspection" at George Bush Intercontinental Airport when the suspicious item was found, Mancuso said.

After discovering the item, customs agents called police, and a bomb-sniffing dog "came over and alerted on the item," Mancuso said, calling the canine's tip "a pretty good indication they were explosives."

The passenger said he had been exploring mines in Bolivia and purchased the dynamite as a souvenir, Mancuso said. It was removed from the airport and taken to a downtown Houston lab for analysis, he said.

The incident caused only minimal disruption in a small area of the airport, Mancuso said. The flight continued on to Newark, New Jersey.

In other aviation incidents, the AP reported:

• An American Airlines flight from England to Chicago, Illinois, was forced to land in Bangor, Maine, in response to an unspecified threat, authorities said. Passengers deplaned and were led to a holding area, said airport manager Rebecca Hupp. The jetliner was on the tarmac with its engines shut down.

"The [Transportation Security Administration] learned of a reported threat to the aircraft while it was en route," TSA spokeswoman Andrea McCauley said, declining to give further details.

• A U.S. Airways jet was diverted to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, after a federal air marshal subdued a disruptive passenger who had pushed a flight attendant, the FBI said.

The passenger was taken into custody at Will Rogers World Airport, FBI spokesman Gary Johnson said. The passenger was undergoing a mental evaluation, and authorities had yet to determine what criminal charges he might face. The twin-engine jet returned to the air three hours later on its flight from Phoenix, Arizona, to Charlotte, North Carolina.

• A Continental Airlines flight from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Bakersfield, California, was held in El Paso, Texas, one of its scheduled stops, after the crew discovered that a panel was missing in a lavatory, authorities said.

• A utility knife was found on a vacant passenger seat of a U.S. Airways flight from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut, state police said. No arrests were made and there were no threats involved, said Master Sgt. J. Paul Vance, state police spokesman.

• An Aer Lingus flight from New York to Dublin, Ireland, was evacuated Friday morning during a scheduled stopover in western Ireland following a bomb threat that turned out to be unfounded, officials said.

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[VetsWife328 7]

GREAT NEWS!!!!! OMG is this EVER gonna stop?????? Yeah now I feel even better flying on September 14th....

Someone please explain to me how in the hell somebody can STILL board a plane with a freaking KNIFE????? Not to even mention buying dynamite as a freaking Souvenir?!

And the guy was American???? Sorry but this is a bit much for me........

Nat

[Marc and Olga 0]

The passenger said he had been exploring mines in Bolivia and purchased the dynamite as a souvenir[/b

Link to Article

What the heck!?

Not a very good Souvenir, IMHO!

Has the kid been in a freekin closet for the last 5 years or so?!

[Henia 11]

I bet everyone's first question is...Were they Muslim?

[vartan 0]

I bet everyone's first question is...Were they Muslim?

No it wass "####### .. dynomite as a souvonier????" But it didn't make it on the plane folks.. that caught it being checked in as i unerstand

[Henia 11]

I bet everyone's first question is...Were they Muslim?

No it wass "####### .. dynomite as a souvonier????" But it didn't make it on the plane folks.. that caught it being checked in as i unerstand

Good to know Intelligence is working on the top cases...LoL

[VetsWife328 7]

It was my 3rd question actually if they were Muslim.

What REALLY freaked me out was to read that they found a KNIFE ON BOARD!!!!!!

GREAT security checks really.

Nat

[PlatyPius 5]

It was my 3rd question actually if they were Muslim.

What REALLY freaked me out was to read that they found a KNIFE ON BOARD!!!!!!

GREAT security checks really.

Nat

It was a utility knife. I would almost guarantee you that the knife was left on the seat by an airline mechanic....who probably doesn't have a job now.

[Mirorgate 0]

I bet everyone's first question is...Were they Muslim?

no.. more like.. "Is he seriously that stupid?"

[vartan 0]

no.. more like.. "Is he seriously that stupid?"

Yeah .. dynomite=souvenir ... hmmm .. wouldn't a postcard be a better idea..

Funny I always see a sign at every airport showing a big no sign around explosives.. hmm

[Veiled Princess 1]

I bet everyone's first question is...Were they Muslim?

Well, my first thought was not a question at all... more like a prayer "Dear God please let him not be muslim "

[vartan 0]

nope just some stupid kid that thought dynomite was a good souvenir. I really wish some people could just be a little bit smarter..

[Alex+R 0]

He had such a dorky name. Howard Fish or something. You get this image of some doofy hapless college sophomore from Connecticut caught in a national scandal... kinda funny huh.

[vartan 0]

Check this guys name

[Alex+R 0]

Check this guys name

I remember that guy!! Sheldon Turnipseed was Jamal from Ghostwriter!!!! I LOVED that show when I was a kid. Even though it pretty much taught nothing. What was the point of that show anyway?