Huckleberries Online

New Arrest on Northwest Airlines Flight

Posted by Cindy

Dec. 28, 2009 8 a.m. • 5 comments

Zan Jafry, left, helps his father Syed Jafry with his coat after arriving on a Northwest Flight from Amsterdam at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Mich. on Friday, Dec. 25, 2009. A Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria, who said he was acting on al-Qaida’s instructions, tried to blow up the plane Friday as it was landing in Detroit, law enforcement and national security officials said.

WASHINGTON – A Nigerian passenger onboard the same Northwest Airlines route that was attacked on Christmas Day was taken into custody in Detroit on Sunday after locking himself in the bathroom for an hour and becoming verbally disruptive upon landing, officials said.

The latest disturbance aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 came as the U.S. system for checking suspicious travelers and airport security came under new scrutiny, prompted by an alleged terrorist bent on destroying a jetliner who was thwarted only by a malfunctioning detonator and some quick-thinking passengers. More.

All I want to do is fly to Portland next month without being strip-searched. Is that too much to ask?

Five comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Fixer on December 28 at 9:16 a.m.
Abdulmutallab appears to have exploited a known deficiency in the aviation security screening process. The good news is that in reality it’s harder to actually build and detonate an IED than it appears on TV.

Ironically, Cindy, strip search of passengers would eliminate the known deficiency. Just sayin’.
Joker on December 28 at 10:07 a.m.
Very soon, everyone will be given a hospital gown to wear before going through airport security. Is it cold in here or is my rear flap open, cause I feel a draft!
spokelooneh on December 28 at 2:18 p.m.
Well I’ve seen all manner of videos on youtube that purport to show things blown up with PETN, however it appears the bomb maker needs to “shape the charge” in substantial materials, not just encased in soft material like apparently this guy had done.
Sisyphus on December 28 at 2:32 p.m.
My wife and I were strip searched going through Amsterdam’s terminal not long after we bombed Libya in 1986. Everyone was.

If 9/11 taught us anything it should be how not to overreact by terrorist actions. The more drastic action we take the more vulnerable we appear. Our reaction against the wrongdoers should be swift and total. But any response affecting citizens should be both effective and as non-intrusive as possible.

I still have an image of bin Laden sitting back and laughing at how much damage he inflicted on us by one well orchestrated attack. Yet he escaped justice. Now more are emboldened to repeat his efforts.
Smacky on December 28 at 2:39 p.m.
So much for taking off our shoes in the name of safety…

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.