The US Federal Bureau of Invest-igation said on Friday it is looking into whether damage to wires on several Boeing Co jets was intentional, a finding that would mark one of the most serious cases of sabotage in the US aerospace giant's history.
The investigation would try to determine whether or not a crime had been committed, but the FBI did expect quick results, a bureau spokesman said.
"We have to look at it and decide if there is federal jurisdiction," the spokesman said from FBI headquarters in Washington.
A notice on Boeing's Web site confirmed that the FBI had taken charge of investigating the incidents, in which Boeing said it had found "suspicious" wire damage on up to 10 of its 737 short to mid-range passenger jets still in production.
"Late Thursday afternoon, The Boeing Co was notified by the Federal Aviation Administration that the investigation into suspicious wire damage on several 737s has been elevated to a Federal Bureau investigation," the message said.
"We will continue to work to ensure the integrity of our manufacturing processes and the quality of our products," the message said.
A Boeing spokeswoman said the company had no further comment.
On Thursday, Boeing said that company inspectors at its 737 plant in Renton, Washington, had found seven planes with the wire damage. It said reinspections of other jets found three more that may have had similar damage, though the evidence in those cases was not conclusive.
None of the planes, which can seat from 110 to 189 people and cost from US$40.5 million to US$68.5 million, were in service and all of the damage was caught in quality checks during production, Boeing said.
Boeing has so far stopped short of saying the damage was intentional, but local media have quoted company sources as saying the wires appeared to had been cut, perhaps signaling sabotage.
If true, it would be the most extensive case of sabotage at Boeing in recent memory. While not unheard of, intentional damage to aircraft at Boeing is rare, analysts and local media reports said.
The company has declined to speculate on possible motives for sabotage if the damage turns out to be intentional.
There are no prominent labor problems at the Renton plant, which employs 12,000 people.
Boeing does plan to shift certain work done there on its 757 model to Wichita, Kansas, but has promised to help the 500 workers affected by the move find new jobs in the company.
Boeing is also reportedly looking into consolidating its commercial airline operations by moving the Renton 737 and 757 operations about 30 miles north to Everett, Washington where it makes the 777, 767 and 747 models.
However, this is not the first time such damage has emerged at the Renton plant or on the 737.
In 1999, Renton inspectors found several wires in a bundle waiting to be installed on a 737 had been snipped on purpose. In 1990, a 737 was found to have more than 50 cut wires, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.
No one was caught in either case, the newspaper said.
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