Sunday, January 01, 2012

The Blaze:

Serviceman With Explosives Detained at Texas Airport


An explosives technician secures an explosives transport box to the back of a vehicle to be taken to a storage facility, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011, at the Midland International Airport in Midland, Texas. The military-grade explosives were confiscated from a departing passenger. (AP Photo/Odessa American, Heather Leiphart)

A man was detained at Saturday at a Texas airport after trying to go through a security checkpoint with explosives in his carry-on, officials said.

The suspect is active military and the explosives were in military-grade wrapping, police told the Houston Chronicle. The explosives were spotted by Transportation Security Administration officers when his bag went through the X-ray machine at the Midland International Airport in Midland, Texas.

The man was stopped at the checkpoint around 9 a.m. and taken into FBI custody. He identified himself as being active in the military and said he’d been in town visiting relatives and was on his way back to his base in North Carolina, police said.

The terminal was evacuated and the checkpoint shut down for an hour while the item was investigated and removed.

A bomb-sniffing dog was brought in to assist with the investigation, authorities said.

A city of Midland spokeswoman told the Associated Press said the specific grade of the explosives won’t be known until after testing.

An FBI spokesperson would not release the man’s name but confirmed he was being held by officials, the Chronicle reported.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi midnight the man his name doesn't sound 'asian' at all but then he might be a convert, as far i understoud he's a military in active dity who brought back some 'souveniers'.

Pastorius said...

... would not release the man's name ...

Unknown said...

A North Carolina man was arrested on suspicion of attempting to carry explosives through a security checkpoint at an airport in Midland, Texas, federal authorities said.

Trey Scott Atwater of Hope Mills was taken into federal custody Saturday morning after Transportation Security Administration agents spotted what they described as a suspicious item.Atwater is a Green Beret and is scheduled for a third tour of duty in Afghanistan in July.
Read the name yesterday.