- NEW YORK (UPI) --
A Russian jetliner headed for Washington was detained Wednesday in New
York, and three passengers were held for questioning by U.S. federal agents
following reports that suggested the presence of radioactive material on
board, a Port Authority spokesman said.
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- But fur coats found in their luggage triggered the radioactive
alert, officials said. The men were not charged and were released.
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- "Information out of Moscow said there was a possibility
of something radioactive on board," Pasquale DiFulco, spokesman for
the New York New Jersey Port Authority, told United Press International.
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- "Port Authority police, the FBI and U.S. Customs
met the plane and 176 passengers were bused to the terminal," DiFulco
said.
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- "A thorough search of the plane found no radioactive
materials," said Alan Hicks, another Port Authority spokesman. "It
turns out it was a box full of furs," said Transportation Security
Administration spokesman Robert Johnson.
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- The plane and the three passengers were later cleared.
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- "All runways (at JFK) are operational, and there
is no information that this is terrorist-related," Gordon Johndroe,
a spokesman for the White House Office of Homeland Security, told UPI.
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- With reporting by Alex Cukan in Albany, N.Y.
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- Copyright © 2002 United Press International. All
rights reserved.
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