Man Tries To Blow Up Transatlantic Plane

[Luke]

An incident on an airliner arriving in Detroit from the Netherlands was an attempted terrorist attack, a senior administration official told the BBC.

Sources say a man tried to blow up the jet with 278 passengers on board, but was subdued and taken into custody. No-one was seriously hurt.

The suspect said he had been acting on behalf of al-Qaeda, a police source told the Associated Press news agency.

President Barack Obama has ordered increased security for air travel.

Read the whole news story here

That's messed up.

I've gotta say it's a little unnerving to hear this when in 2 days I fly back over to California.

[Omar]

Think that's bad, hear this: I went over to Europe for two weeks in Summer 2006. While there, a terrorist attempt was foiled which involved the destruction of several planes from the UK headed to America. I already hate flying, so you can imagine how much more nerve-wracking that was for me.

The good news for you is that security will be beefed up for awhile, so if anything you're likely safer.

[Luke]

I know but it's so damn intimidating going through all those security checks, especially when you have ethnic skin. I'm also quite nervous when I fly so this obviously wont do that any good. But I guess over-precaution is better than under-precaution in these instances.

Either way I really hope the passengers on that plane knocked the living crap out of that prick. How dare he threaten the lives of several hundred people for his bullshit extremist causes. It makes me that much sick to my stomach that this cunt was living in London aswell.

[Gloomy Mushroom]

I just saw something on the news about this (it was a quick news update on the tele), wasn't the 'explosive devices' firecrackers?

[Luke]

@Sarah:

The suspect later told the US authorities he had had explosive powder taped to his leg and used a syringe of chemicals to mix with the powder that was to cause explosion, the ABC television network reports.

Another US intelligence official quoted by AP said an explosive device had been used consisting of a "mix of powder and liquid".

[Omar]

I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but one of the good things Bush/TSA did was to tighten regulations for carry-on items to the point where it'd be very difficult to put a commercial jet in jeopardy. This guy literally had to light himself on fire.

[El Muerto]

Wait, wait, wait, when I was flying to the US it took them a whole month to check my background and approve my visa and then on the airport they almost entirely stripped me down, they exactly know what I had on myself, they probably even knew what I was thinking. And now when a guy who's on the American black list for being in touch with terrorist organizations not only gets the American visa but manages to get some powder explosive on board. And the detonator fails? And after everything he says he's from Al Quaida? I'm not buying this..

[11:54]

This is just some BS.

[Todd]

Wait, wait, wait, when I was flying to the US it took them a whole month to check my background and approve my visa and then on the airport they almost entirely stripped me down, they exactly know what I had on myself, they probably even knew what I was thinking. And now when a guy who's on the American black list for being in touch with terrorist organizations not only gets the American visa but manages to get some powder explosive on board. And the detonator fails? And after everything he says he's from Al Quaida? I'm not buying this..

Well, I believe anyone with a valid passport can board a plane bound for the US, but if you don't have a valid visa, US customs and immigration will put you on the next flight back to where you came from once you land; so chances are, he didn't have the right paperwork to enter the US because he never intended to enter the US, at least not alive.

However, airlines normally do check to see that all passengers have the proper visas to enter the country they're flying to, because if C&I sends them back, it's at the airline's expense, so airlines like to make sure that everyone on the plane will be allowed entry. So the failure here is either the US state department screwed up and should have never given this guy a visa; or, he never had a visa and Northwest Airlines screwed up. I think NWA probably screwed up by letting this guy on the flight without a valid visa. Our government may have its problems, but the state department and department of homeland security are generally pretty good and thorough.

[El Muerto]

Well, I believe anyone with a valid passport can board a plane bound for the US, but if you don't have a valid visa, US customs and immigration will put you on the next flight back to where you came from once you land; so chances are, he didn't have the right paperwork to enter the US because he never intended to enter the US, at least not alive.

However, airlines normally do check to see that all passengers have the proper visas to enter the country they're flying to, because if C&I sends them back, it's at the airline's expense, so airlines like to make sure that everyone on the plane will be allowed entry. So the failure here is either the US state department screwed up and should have never given this guy a visa; or, he never had a visa and Northwest Airlines screwed up. I think NWA probably screwed up by letting this guy on the flight without a valid visa. Our government may have its problems, but the state department and department of homeland security are generally pretty good and thorough.

Well, you can call this a conspiracy theory, but I think this was just a Christmas fairytale for American citizens from American government to keep them in fear from Al Quaida so they can justify their military action in Middle East.

[Chris]

Who saved the day? WHO SAVED THE DAY?!

If it ain't Dutch, it ain't much.

Seriously, what a terrible security at KLM.

[Luke]

Well, you can call this a conspiracy theory, but I think this was just a Christmas fairytale for American citizens from American government to keep them in fear from Al Quaida so they can justify their military action in Middle East.

Seeing as security these days is locked up tighter than a drum, it is a little odd how this guy managed to get that shit on to two aeroplanes.

[El Muerto]

Seeing as security these days is locked up tighter than a drum, it is a little odd how this guy managed to get that shit on to two aeroplanes.

What do you mean two planes?

[Luke]

What do you mean two planes?

According to NCTB, the dutch counter-terrorism agency, the man boarded a plane from Lagos in Nigeria to Amsterdam and transferred on to the plane to Detroit.

[El Muerto]

According to NCTB, the dutch counter-terrorism agency, the man boarded a plane from Lagos in Nigeria to Amsterdam and transferred on to the plane to Detroit.

For fuck's sake, that makes this story even more ridiculous.. Either the whole story is just propaganda or they decided to risk the lives of the people on the planes to see where this guy is heading to..

[Todd]

According to NCTB, the dutch counter-terrorism agency, the man boarded a plane from Lagos in Nigeria to Amsterdam and transferred on to the plane to Detroit.

Well, security in Nigeria is known for being lax and the screeners can be bribed quite easily. That's why passengers coming from Nigeria and other certain parts of the world are rescreened before boarding their next flight.

And I think the US rescreens all incoming passengers from foreign countries regardless of which country they came from. After coming in from Frankfurt back in March, I was rescreened in Chicago before boarding my next flight to St. Louis. Apparently we can't trust the Germans, even though I bet airport security in Germany is 20 times better than ours Then again, the Germans must not trust themselves because I was rescreened after the Berlin-Frankfurt leg of that trip.

[Disturbedthoughts]

I don't really know what to think...It doesn't make sense, and when I was watching CNN they interviewed two people that were on the plane and they both gave completely contradictory stories on what happened. One woman said he was screaming his head off about Afghanistan and Al Quaida and was making all kinds of threats and such. The other woman said he stood up and was really quiet and didn't go out of his way to make a scene. I'm more inclined to believe the second woman. But the truth is probably in the middle somewhere. Still doesn't make sense though.

[Astat]

Title should be more like "Patsy allegedly attempts to blow up plane so Big Brother can invade our lives even more."

I find it hilarious that people believe some of the shit they see on the news. I'm not surprised in the least that the passengers' stories totally contradict each other and the guy managed to get through post-9/11 airport security TWICE, despite the fact that he's seemingly one of the last people that should ever be allowed on an airplane. Obvious propaganda at work here.

"Go back to bed America, your government has figured it all out." - Bill Hicks

The good news for you is that security will be beefed up for awhile, so if anything you're likely safer.

If waiting in line for 6 hours just so you can practically get raped before you're allowed to board an airplane is "safer," I suppose you're right.

[esaul17]

If it was a government set up, I would think it more likely they'd get the passengers reports to line up.

[Dedicated]

I think there's always likely to be contradictory stories at moments like these. Mainly because people are in shock and have no control over what's going on, so they panic.

If it were a government set up, I doubt they'd let an entire aeroplane in on it.