| Officials: Gov't Was Warned Weapons Would Be on Planes | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Saturday, October 18, 2003
WASHINGTON — The North Carolina man the government is eying as the one responsible for hiding box cutters on two jet airliners warned the government in an e-mail of his intentions, but was still not considered a threat, a senior Bush administration official said Saturday.
Authorities began searching the over 7,000 commercial airplanes in the United States Friday after someone left three suspicious bags filled with claylike material, bleach and boxcutters on two Southwest Airlines flights. The FBI announced later that it had found the perpetrator. By Friday night, after consulting with the FBI, the Transportation Security Administration rescinded the inspection order. The agency was questioning a 20-year-old North Carolina college student in Baltimore, officials said. The man had previously informed the TSA via e-mail that he planned to put packages on planes in an effort to expose gaps in aviation security. An FBI statement said that agents had "located and interviewed the individual believed responsible" for leaving the bags and that the person posed no further threat to airline security. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland is weighing charges against the individual. Legal proceedings were expected Monday in federal court in Baltimore. A student at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., said he was questioned by the FBI on Friday. "They were pretty quick. I wasn't surprised," Nataniel T. Heatwole, 20, was quoted as telling the Greensboro News & Record Saturday. Heatwole, interviewed from his home in Damascus, Md., said he has not been charged with any crime and has no connection to the airline industry. A Guilford administrator said in a statement that the FBI on Friday inquired about a student in connection with the investigation. "We had no reason to suspect that a student was engaged in this reported activity," according to Randy Doss, vice president for enrollment and campus life, whose statement was posted on the college's Web site. The bags left on planes in Houston and New Orleans were accompanied by notes that said the writer was concerned about security on airplanes. FBI Director Robert Mueller said the suspicious items didn't appear to be a terrorist threat. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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