Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Air Drama

Two incidents from today show that tensions are running high after last week's terrorist scare. A United Airlines flight from London to Washington Dulles was diverted to Boston after a claustrophobic woman created a disturbance. Initial reports had her carrying notes referencing Al Qaeda as well as newly-banned lotions and liquids, but they've been dispelled in the ensuing hours. Apparently she was nothing more than anxious and antsy.

Meanwhile, a disconcerting story from London's Gatwick airport. A 6 year old boy boarded a flight to Lisbon without having passed through security and without a boarding pass. He had already been served a drink and snack before the flight attendants realized he didn't belong there. Quite independent, the child had taken the train by himself to the airport and passed through the airport unnoticed. Clearly security isn't as tight as we thought it was. Terrorists, we can be sure, are not above using children to execute their plots.

2 Comments:

Blogger Evan said...

I read about the Logan diversion this morning as it was happening...at the time, I read that the woman had in possesion a screwdriver, Vaseline, matches, and a note referring to Al Qaeda. 'Amazing what kinds of rumors make it through the press.

On a similar note concerning your second point, there have been some incidents in the Boston area of shoplifters using their own children, in one case two children, supervised by their parents (who were hiding in the store), stealing jewelry from the cases of a jeweler. The surveillance video was amazing. It's shocking how kids can be used in such ways for criminal activity.

11:33 AM  
Blogger Ben said...

I knew kids had to be useful for something:)

2:22 PM  

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