Airport security is being turned up yet another notch after 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 US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Sunday ordered US airlines and airports to be more vigilant in detecting passengers boarding planes with explosives in their shoes.
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 for yesterday 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.
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 1.93m Reid bit her, authorities said.
"He bit Ms. Jones on the thumb and Ms. Moutardier threw water in his face," FBI agent Margaret 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 US Air Force F-15 fighter jets.
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.
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 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."
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