- US security officials boarded a British Airways jet upon
its landing at Washington Dulles airport on Wednesday night and questioned
its passengers for three hours.
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- FBI and Transportation Security Administration agents
gave no specific reason for the action and said no arrests were made as
all 247 passengers on board the Boeing 747 jet were allowed in.
- "There were a number of passengers on that British
Airways flight that law enforcement officials wanted to speak with,"
said an FBI spokeswoman who asked not to be named.
- Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Rachael Sunbarger
was quoted as saying the flight had been detained on the tarmac for screening,
but she gave no further details.
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- Heightened alert
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- In London, a British Airways spokesman said the carrier
had no idea why the investigation took place.
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- "The FBI directed that the airplane be parked at
a remote area and proceeded to interview all of the passengers," spokesman
John Lampl said. "We do not know what triggered this investigation."
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- He said all of the passengers had completed the interview
process about three hours after landing and the plane was towed to its
normal gate to prepare for a return flight to London.
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- The incident comes amid heightened security precautions
as the United States raised the "terror alert" to its second
highest level 10 days ago, citing the possibility of "terror"
attacks over the Christmas and New Year holiday period.
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- Last week, six Air France flights between Paris and Los
Angeles were canceled when US intelligence warned French authorities that
the passenger lists included suspicious names.
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- Agencies
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- http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A3864C95-E547-47F7-9544-491BFCC8BED0.htm
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