Air India Terrorist Alert Was False Alarm

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Mar 1, 2002 An Air India jetliner with nearly 400 people that was escorted by
fighter jets to New York yesterday after authorities were told there was a
suspicious passenger aboard landed safely and the scare turned out to be a
false alarm.Flight 101 landed at Kennedy Airport from London without
incident. Two passengers were questioned and released. FBI spokesman Joseph
Valiquette said they were of "no investigative interest."Reports said that
authorities were told that one of the passengers resembled one of the 22
people on the FBI's 'Most Wanted Terrorists' list. The list includes several
senior al-Qaida figures and others believed to have executed the 1998 East
Africa embassy bombings.New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said that
there was apparently "some sort of confrontation" between one of the two
passengers and a security screener in London.Kelly said that after the person
boarded the flight, the screener said: "this individual looks like somebody
who may be wanted, or words to that effect. That's what has triggered this
alert."Scotland Yard confirmed police questioned a man at London's Heathrow
Airport but allowed him to continue his journey. Airport officials said they
didn't know of any security staff who had reported suspicions.The flight,
which had 378 passengers and 19 crew members, was shadowed by Canadian
fighters over the Atlantic, government officials said. Two US Air Force F-15s
took over when the plane entered US airspace.





Leo/ORD

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