NEW YORK (voa) – The FBI in New York City has questioned and released an Air India passenger after determining he is not a suspected terrorist.
Reports say the passenger may have been the victim of a hoax carried out by a security screener at London’s Heathrow Airport, who apparently had an argument with the man.
The FBI is refusing to identify the passenger. After Air India Flight 101 took off from London, the screener allegedly told authorities that the passenger’s name matched one on a government watch list. The screener also told them the passenger resembled someone on a separate no-fly list, but was using another name.
Flight 101 landed in New York late Thursday. It was shadowed by Canadian jet fighters over the Atlantic Ocean. U.S. fighter jets escorted the flight to John F. Kennedy airport after it entered U.S. airspace.
Once on the ground, it taxied to a remote section of the runway, far from passenger terminals.
International airlines and U.S. authorities have been especially vigilant for suspicious passengers since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
