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| Flight Diverted to Bangor Maine | ||
| 2004-02-20 | ||
A international flight was diverted to Bangor (ME) International Airport overnight when a Chicago investment banker alerted his family that he had been kidnapped by Al Qaeda. The aircraft, over the Atlantic, was turned around and landed in Bangor about midnight EST. A bomb sniffing dog then cleared the aircraft and the banker was detained. The aircraft was wheels up about 3 hours later.
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| Posted by:Bogeybob |
| #15 Lets see, Muslim name...one way ticket.....paid cash.....no security risk here. Move along... |
| Posted by: john 2004-2-20 10:28:45 PM |
| #14 He also took $5,000 out of his personal account earlier in the week and had a one way ticket...fully paid for in cash. |
| Posted by: milford 2004-2-20 6:42:51 PM |
| #13 4 hours into a trans-atlantic flight puts you about half way there. But the plane returns and lands at what appears to be the nearest US airport. Certainly not the nearest airport. An airplane in trouble would head for either Gander or Shannon (or maybe Iceland). Methinks the US authorities wanted this guy for something important. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2004-2-20 6:33:29 PM |
| #12 , I'll not be surprised if some investments went missing Lesson here.... don't cover up, don't call .. grab the dough and run like a Martha. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-2-20 5:07:18 PM |
| #11 When this story fully develops, I'll not be surprised if some investments went missing at the same time as the banker. |
| Posted by: GK 2004-2-20 4:37:57 PM |
| #10 From the Bangor Daily News...www.bangornews.com Two passengers removed from plane in Bangor PORTLAND - Airport and law enforcement officials in Bangor said Friday that two people, not one, were removed from a Morocco-bound flight that was diverted to Bangor Thursday night. The jetliner resumed its route to Casablanca early Friday, federal authorities said. The remaining passengers were rescreened and the plane was refueled before taking off at 3:52 a.m. One of the two passengers who left the plane - 27-year-old investment banker Zubiar Ali Ghias, who had been reported missing to Chicago police last Saturday - was in Bangor Friday and is not under arrest, FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said. "The investigation is continuing and he continues to be cooperative," she said. There were 82 passengers and 10 crew aboard Royal Air Maroc Flight 201 when it took off from New York's Kennedy International Airport Thursday evening, officials said. Federal authorities diverted the Boeing 767 to Bangor, where it landed about four hours later. Tony Caruso, Bangor International Airport's assistant director, and Bangor police Sgt. James Owens said Ghias and a second passenger were taken off the plane and questioned. The second passenger was not named in police reports. "It was two people," Owens said. "The guy in question and the guy in the seat next to him." The Bangor airport was notified 10 to 15 minutes before the plane landed, Caruso said. "The pilot originally told passengers he was diverting to Bangor for mechanical reasons so the passengers wouldn't get upset that there was a bomb threat on the plane," Caruso said. "We got a call that there was an irate passenger on board, and also a bomb threat." Marcinkiewicz cited calls from Chicago-area media to an airline security desk in New York reporting a possible bomb. "There was no bomb," she said. |
| Posted by: Bogeybob 2004-2-20 3:27:15 PM |
| #9 Looks like it was a domestic dispute. Don't know that it was wise to get the feds involved via the claim about alQ though. |
| Posted by: rkb 2004-2-20 3:10:11 PM |
| #8 His story could be true. The guy sitting next to him could be his al-Qaeda kidnapper. We're just discussing the likelihood that it's true. |
| Posted by: Fred 2004-2-20 2:37:41 PM |
| #7 Let's not forget the reports from Iraq of people being forced to commit terrorist attacks by having their families threatened. It's not unreasonable that they might try to do it here, too. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-2-20 2:32:17 PM |
| #6 Newsday now says 2 people were taken off the flight, seated together. the banker borrowed another passenger's cell phone to call home - maybe while his buddy / kidnapper / ??? was in the john |
| Posted by: on the ground 2004-2-20 1:34:55 PM |
| #5 Umm, Occam told me while shaving that it is clear that Zubair ditched his family to shack up with a girlfriend in NYC. |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H 2004-2-20 1:00:40 PM |
| #4 His disappearence has been visible news in Chicago all week. Even the PI hired by the family thought this was going to go down as a car jacking, and a body would turn up. The guy is a 30something, living in a great upscale neighborhood, range rover driving yuppie, not typical profile of AQ operatives...but maybe working in the finaincial world as a Muslim, he was sucked into doing some finaincial favors for some "brothers"... Buying drywall in NY makes no sense at all, but neither does going back for your security deposit on a "stolen van" that happened to contain a bomb in WTC I... This story is weird, and should be most interesting! |
| Posted by: Capsu78 2004-2-20 12:12:36 PM |
| #3 "I'm on flight 201 to Morocco. I've been captured by al-Qaeda, they want me to do something for them. I love you, I just gotta do this." (hangs up phone) "Ok, she bought it. What were those girls names, again?" |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-2-20 10:54:06 AM |
| #2 there's more detail at the BBC article A detective looking for the banker alleges the banker called his wife from the plane to say "I'm on flight 201 to Morocco. I've been captured by al-Qaeda, they want me to do something for them. I love you, I just gotta do this." |
| Posted by: rkb 2004-2-20 8:32:09 AM |
| #1 huh? This doesn't make any sense and there is no link. |
| Posted by: B 2004-2-20 8:26:32 AM |