#8 From the Atlanta Journal Constitution...
It was, depending on your interpretation, a serious breach of security at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport —- or much ado about very little.
Yeah, knives amnd razor blades on a plane? Since when has that led to any trouble?
Two men, both Indian nationals, now face state weapons charges after one was stopped at a security screening point with a folding knife and steak knives in his carry-on luggage. His traveling companion was pulled from a flight and found with a razor blade in his possession.
Federal officials questioned the two and found no connection to any terrorist activity and no criminal intent for their Oct. 25 Atlanta-to-New York flight. No federal charges were filed, and the men could be kicked out of the country before they are prosecuted by the state.
Nah, nuthin to see here. Enjoy your trip, boys...
"We did not get any indication they had planned any overt act on the plane," said FBI spokesman Steve Emmett. "We are deferring to local charges."
Federal officials say they have no idea why Chhaganbhai Patel, 60, or Shakarabhai Patel, 64, had knives and razor blades. Chhaganbhai Patel has been charged with a misdemeanor for carrying a concealed weapon and Shakarabhai Patel has been charged with a felony in connection with having prohibited items on or around an aircraft.
Nope. It's a mystery. Guess we'll never know...
The men were booked on a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to JFK in New York and then a connecting flight to Mumbai, India.
Transportation Security Administration officers discovered a double-bladed folding knife, 20 steak knives wrapped in foil and several old-fashioned razor blades in their original wrappers concealed in the battery compartment of a toy car when Chhaganbhai Patel passed through a security screening gate. TSA officers immediately interviewed him and discovered his traveling companion already had been through the security area and boarded the plane.
Officers took Shakarabhai Patel off the plane, which was still parked at the gate, and searched his baggage, said Lt. Jim Carlino, the evening airport watch commander for the Atlanta Police Department.
"He got on the plane with one of those razor blades," Carlino said. "It was in one of the bags."
Carlino said Shakarabhai Patel also carried $5,000 in cash.
The 4 p.m. flight was delayed about five hours after the incident because passengers were removed from the plane and rescreened "out of an abundance of caution," said Atlanta-based TSA spokesman Jon Allen.
Allen said the incident shows the security screening process works, even though one man made it aboard his flight with a razor blade.
"We're always looking to raise the bar on security," Allen said. "We have not made any changes as a direct result of this, but we are continuing to review this incident."
The two men, meanwhile, were placed in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thursday because their visas had expired.
ICE special agent Ken Smith said ICE will coordinate with local prosecutors and police investigators to determine the men's fate. One option, he said, is simply to deport them without pursuing the charges any further. |
Two men en route to India from Atlanta tried to sneak knives and other weapons on board the flight that also stopped in New York, police said on Thursday. Federal officials said they have ruled out terrorism.