Sat, Oct 09, 2004
TSA spooked by computer that smelled like a bomb, flights
delayed for hours
Nearly
three thousand passengers at Puerto Rico's Luis Munoz Marin
International Airport in San Juan were evacuated on Thursday after
a TSA security screener thought he saw a bomb inside checked
luggage. The "bomb" turned out to be a computer, but before that
fact was determined, incoming and outgoing flights had already been
delayed for almost three hours, causing chaos on traveller's flight
schedules.
In fact, all flight operations at the airport were paralyzed
almost the entire morning by the false alarm. The luggage in
question belonged to a married couple from the Dominican Republic.
The TSA screener was checking the bag at about 0700 when the bag
passed through the scanning system that shows a view of the
interior of the luggage, and also scans for traces of
explosives.
PR Ports Authority Miguel Soto Lacourt told newspaper reporters
that this is the first time that the airport has been completely
closed to all flight operations due to a bomb scare. According to
Soto Lacourt, 2,500 passengers were evacuated from the terminals,
and some 500 passengers who had boarded aircraft and were awaiting
departure were deplaned and taken out of the terminal.
During the period in which the airport was closed, at least
three large commercial airline flights were delayed and
several more were either diverted or put into holding patterns
until the all-clear was given. Once the security screener sounded
the alarm, the Explosives Division of the PR Police Department was
called in. They arrived just after 0730, and another team of
explosives experts arrived some 20 minutes later, as well as agents
from the local FBI office.
The security screener told authorities the computer
attached to the scanner reported it had detected traces of PENT and
TNT inside the box where the passenger's computer was packed. The
trace quantities were below the ten percent threshold normally
associated with an explosives alarm, but increased security
measures have lowered the levels of chemicals at which screening
systems trigger a warning.
The computer in question was the property of Dominicans Elias
Franco Ramirez Galvat and Dianet Tapia Valentin, a married couple
who operate a Christian music retail business. They were both
questioned extensively by authorities, after which their property
was returned to them. Ms. Tapia Valentin was then allowed to travel
with her four children, ages 5 to 15, to Miami. Franco Ramirez did
not have a ticket to travel.
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