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| No charges for Qatari after US flight bomb scare |
| 2010-04-09 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] A Qatari diplomat who sparked a national security scare by joking about setting fire to his shoe on an airplane will be released without charge, a U.S. law enforcement official told AFP on Thursday. "It's expected that he's going to be turned over today to Qatari officials. I don't know if he's still with the FBI or if he's been turned over to the Qatari officials yet," the official said. Mohammed al-Modadi, 27, the third secretary and vice consul of the Qatari embassy in Washington was confronted by air marshals late Wednesday after smoking a cigarette in an airplane bathroom and joked he was trying to ignite his shoe. The source, who asked not to be named, said that even though smoking in airplane restrooms is a federal crime under U.S. law, the diplomat is not likely to be prosecuted. "He has diplomatic immunity. If he was a U.S. citizen, that's a violation, but he does have diplomatic immunity," the official said. "Only a foreign government can lift the immunity." U.S. air marshals subdued a Qatari diplomat on a flight to Denver on Thursday in a bomb scare triggered after he reportedly smoked a cigarette and joked he was trying to light his shoes, officials said. There were no reports of an explosion on the plane, which landed safely at Denver International Airport from Washington's Reagan National Airport following the disturbance. Law enforcement authorities initially notified key lawmakers that U.S. air marshals subdued the Qatari national, who had apparently sought to "ignite their (his) shoe" on the flight, a congressional aide told AFP on condition of anonymity. "Air marshals jumped in, and the cockpit wasn't breached," the official said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 He's been PNG'd, 49Pan. I submitted the article for tomorrow. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-04-09 23:12 |
| #6 He needs to be sent pack with his diplomatic status revoked, I.E. PNG the guy. Then place a restricition on commercial flights for all diplomats from Qatari. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2010-04-09 22:53 |
| #5 joked he was trying to ignite his shoe Nonsense. He knew he had diplomatic immunity and that's pretty much the way he and the other elites treat 'cops'. I'd be handing Qatar a bill, and strongly suggesting they look into chartering aircraft. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-04-09 22:09 |
| #4 Todays Denver Postpile had three mentions of F-16's scrambled from Buckley in the article. No mention of the Colorado Air National Guard. |
| Posted by: Flaper Scourge of the Algonquins4926 2010-04-09 15:36 |
| #3 The F-16s at Buckley belong to the Colorado Air National Guard. There are two on standby for just this kind of sh$$ every hour of every day. The Guard and Reserves are taking on a larger portion of military duties than ever before. I'm sure they'd appreciate a positive mention from the press, but that's not likely to happen. Maybe the Denver Post said something - I haven't checked it today. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2010-04-09 13:41 |
| #2 said the typical cost to airlines is "pretty sizable" as well whenever there's a security incident. How "Sizeable" is it when a planeload of passengers goes down? |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-04-09 13:31 |
| #1 It's a costly "joke". Other AQ operatives have been suspected of using diplomatic passports, too. Qatar should at a minimum pay up: Excerpt from FoxNews: A lot of people kicked into action last night based on a perceived threat," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee. "I don't think it's unreasonable" to ask Qatar for the money. Responding to midair security threats is a multi-agency ordeal that can cost thousands, even tens of thousands, of dollars. This particular incident wouldn't have cost United Airlines much, because the flight did not have to divert to another city, meaning the airline didn't have to take on the expense of sending another plane or lodging passengers in hotels. But law enforcement still had to respond, and the two F-16s -- which according to the U.S. military cost $7,569 apiece for every hour in the air -- still had to leave base to escort the flight and return. That's a $15,000 tab if you count the full hour. A military official said the jets were in the air for about 40 minutes total, so the bare minimum cost would be about $10,000. It would have been much more if the North American Aerospace Defense Command didn't happen to have a base so close by. The two fighter jets came from Buckley Air Force Base, which is just a few miles from the Denver airport where the F-16s landed safely with the United Airlines flight. David A. Castelveter, a spokesman with the Air Transport Association, said the typical cost to airlines is "pretty sizable" as well whenever there's a security incident. |
| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2010-04-09 09:45 |