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from newsday
Suspected pipe bomb found at MacArthur Airport
Would-be passenger detained at security checkpoint, officials say
BY JOHN VALENTI | john.valenti@newsday.com
12:49 PM EDT, October 16, 2008
A would-be passenger is in police custody Thursday morning after federal security agents at Long Island MacArthur Airport discovered a suspected "improvised explosive device" -- or pipe bomb -- in a carry-on bag, officials said.
Transportation Security Administration agents then "pulled the individual's checked bags" and found "M-80 fireworks and ammunition," TSA spokeswoman Lara Uselding told Newsday.
A device that had "wires and possibly looked like a pipe bomb" was found at 7:28 a.m. in a carry-on bag while being X-rayed by TSA agents, Uselding said. An airport source said a knife also was found.
Law enforcement sources said the specific type of device -- an incendiary that could be a smoke bomb or pipe bomb -- will not be known until it can be defused and examined.
The FBI and agents from the U.S. Department of Justice Joint Terrorism Task Force are on the scene, sources said.
An airport source told Newsday that the FBI has taken over as the lead investigative agency on the case. A federal source also told Newsday that the man, who is from Las Vegas, has no apparent links to known terrorism organizations -- and is believed to have acted alone.
"At this time, I have no reports of known nexus to terrorism," Uselding said.
Police have not confirmed any details regarding the incident -- or an arrest.
The FBI has not commented publicly on the incident.
Part of the Southwest Airlines terminal was evacuated after the discovery, Airport Deputy Commissioner Eric Hofmeister said. Airport commissioner Teresa Rizzuto said the man had tickets for a Southwest Airlines flight to Las Vegas, but officials have not identified the specific flight.
After the discovery, the TSA agents immediately notified airport police, Hofmeister said, and Gates 5-8 at the Southwest Terminal were immediately evacuated.
Officials also notified Suffolk police, who sent an Emergency Services Unit Bomb Squad officers to the scene, Hofmeister said.
Airport officials also restricted access to Gates 1-2 on the west end of the terminal and to the original terminal gates.
Hofmeister said bomb squad personnel "removed the suspicious package" from the airport at 8:38 a.m. and that TSA agents and other airport personnel were allowed back into the building after 8:40 a.m.
Karen Semigran of Holbrook was seeing family off to Mexico at the time of the evacuation. "It was very orderly," Semigran said. "Even though it was a bit chaotic, everyone listened and the police did the right thing."
The terminal was re-opened at 9:30 a.m. and just one flight was delayed, officials said.
The last major incident at MacArthur involved a bomb threat made on July 25, officials said. That threat was found to have no validity, however.
On a weekly basis, TSA agents uncover a variety of potential security breaches, Uselding said.
The official TSA Web site shows that this week alone security agents at checkpoints in U.S. airports have found:
* Suspicious behavior or fraudulent travel documents leading to the arrest of 16 passengers;
* 24 firearms on passengers;
* one "artfully concealed prohibited" item;
* 13 incidents that involved a checkpoint closure, terminal evacuation or sterile area breach.
"We are still seeing people bringing firearms to checkpoints, we are seeing people bringing altered electronic devices to checkpoints," Uselding, the TSA spokeswoman, said. "It's unclear if they are testing the system -- or trying to see what they can get through."
Staff writers Robert E. Kessler, Tom Brune and Stacey Altherr contributed to this story.
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Originally Posted by Buster Friendly
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