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CNN Live Sunday

U.S. Law Enforcement Confirms Richard Reid Had Explosives in Shoes

Aired December 23, 2001 - 17:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, getting back to our stop story, U.S. law enforcement confirmed today that material found in the shoes of the American Airlines passenger was indeed explosive. CNN's Kathleen Koch is at Boston's Logan International Airport where the plane was diverted during an international flight yesterday. And what a drama it was, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was indeed, Carol. And here tonight, there is no word yet on exactly what prompted the bizarre incident or exactly what charges will be brought against the suspect, 28-year-old Richard Reid. As you said, a Bush administration source has confirmed that this material that was found inside his shoes is of an explosive nature, though the FBI has not yet confirmed to us whether or not it was a working bomb.

Now, the authorities do tell us that Reid is a Sri Lankan national, and Scotland Yard is confirming that he also has a valid British passport. Now, the incident occurred over the Atlantic, after -- some time after the plane left Paris, when a flight attendant smelled sulfur and noticed this passenger, very tall man, 6-foot-4, with long, dark hair, back in row 29, trying to light something on his shoes.

Now, at that point she and a number of passengers tackled him. They were able to restraint him with belts and other items that they had on hand. Sources tell CNN that a couple of doctors who were on board used drugs in the in flight medical kit to sedate him three different times to keep him under control.

Now, because of this incident, the FAA today has issued another alert to the airlines to be on guard, to be on the watch for people trying to smuggle weapons or bomb-making parts in their shoes. Now, a similar alert was issued back on December 11. And at that time, some airlines began checking people's shoes, taking them off and putting them through the X-ray screening machines. Now, here at Logan Airport they began doing that for the first time today. It increased the lengths of lines, but the passengers we talked to didn't mind at all, though some of them were quite upset by yesterday's frightening incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bothers me. Everybody can take their shoes off (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If they had X-ray vision at this point, do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH; Now, we are still waiting for word from the U.S. attorney's office here in Boston as to what charges will be brought against this man, Reid. At this point, he is being held in a state correctional facility south of here in Plymouth, Massachusetts. And again, we've been promised a statement throughout the day, and Carol, we are hoping to get it very soon. Back to you.

LIN: Kathleen, the officials you spoke with, are they saying that Richard Reid is cooperating with the investigation, is he answering questions, or is he just completely silent?

KOCH: We really are not hearing much about his level of cooperation. We do know one interesting note that he had tried to board this very same flight on Friday in Paris, but was detained by French authorities, by French police for some reason. Something about him wasn't right. We don't know if it was his appearance, if it was this British passport, or perhaps it was the fact that he wasn't checking any luggage. He was taking an international flight and not taking luggage. He was detained for some reason yesterday, missed the flight, but then did get on the flight today.

LIN: So, does that mean that if you are taking a long flight and you're not checking luggage and you're just doing carry-on -- if I understand it, he just took a carry-on bag on board -- that you are going to be detained, likely?

KOCH: Not necessarily, Carol, but it can be somewhat of a red flag. It is one of the things that officials watch for. Other red flags also being: If you pay cash for a ticker, if you buy a ticket at the last minute, if you buy a one-way ticket, or, say, if one person purchases tickets for several people on their credit card, but the people have different names. So, there are a number of little triggers that might cause you to get extra attention for security, and that's just one of them.

LIN: You know, that's pretty funny, Kathleen, because that pretty much describes how most of us travel at CNN -- last minute, often one way, the company -- well, usually the company credit card, but they pay upfront.

KOCH: Absolutely. And Carol, did you know that the last two times I traveled for CNN, when we flew up to Boston, I was profiled myself, and my hand carry-on and my check baggage went through intense scrutiny, and my check bag went through the explosive detection system, and that's what's supposed to happen, to keep us all safe.

LIN: Wow, and you look like nothing what, you know, how somebody might profile a terrorist. You know, you just look like a regular business traveler. All right. Thank you. KOCH: Absolutely, but they say that -- they say that you can't just check out people who look suspicious, that someone, you know, who looks completely innocent could also be carrying a bomb.

LIN: There you go. All right. Thank you very much. Kathleen Koch reporting live from Logan International Airport.

Well, all those passengers on board that American Airlines flight landed weary and shaken. They finally arrived in Miami early this morning, and that's where CNN's John Zarrella was able to talk to them about the ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Early Sunday morning, thankful to be on the ground and alive, passengers from the diverted Paris-Miami American Airlines flight finally made it to their final destination. The story they tell of what happened over the North Atlantic is both heroic and chilling.

This man, identified by the French ministry from his British passport as Richard Reid, was apparently attempting to ignite an explosive in his shoes. A flight attendant caught him in the act.

NICHOLAS GREEN, PASSENGER: She screamed and was pushed away. And then she yelled, "help me," at which point, somebody from behind the person pulled his hair from behind -- he had very long hair. And the stewardess once again tried to jump on the person to stop him.

ZARRELLA: During the struggle, the flight attendant was bitten on the hand. The 767 300 series is configured with seven seats across in coach -- two on the left, three in the middle and two on the right. Nicholas Green was sitting in row 34 in the center section. The suspect, Green says, was seated a few rows in front of him on the right.

GREEN: Then very quickly, two people who were seated opposite the person in question jumped on top of him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, first they hit him over the head with -- or something -- with a fire extinguisher, which kind of knocked him out a little bit, and then they sedated him afterward.

ZARRELLA: Maija Karhusaari was seated a couple of rows in front of the suspect, in seat 27-G. She says the struggle with Reid lasted less than a minute.

MAIJA KARHUSAARI, PASSENGER: One of the passengers jumped on to help the stewardess. They got him -- got him tied down, with (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ear phones and belts and stuff like that so they could tie him down. And then, there were passengers watching him all the way to Boston. Just rotating, there were three or four guys, all the time were on him.

ZARRELLA: The suspect was unbelievably strong, even for 6-foot-8 basketball player Kwami James (ph), who held Reid down. James says when Reid was asked why...

KWAMI JAMES, PASSENGER: He said, you'll see, you know, you'll all see.

ZARRELLA: Most of the passengers on the flight knew something had happened, but didn't know the details.

GEOFFREY BESSIN, PASSENGER: They just said that a gentleman had a match. We don't know he has been subdued. Get to know your neighbor, just to be sure that there's nobody else on the plane that might want to do something.

ZARRELLA: Passengers close enough to the struggle to know what had happened, say their hearts raced for the reminder of the flight.

KARHUSAARI: Two hours, 40 minutes -- more -- was the longest two hours and 40 minutes of my life.

ZARRELLA: Finally, under jet fighter escort, the plane landed without further incident in Boston.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well, the American Airlines scare made us wonder what happened to having federal sky marshals on board flights. Earlier today, I talked with Congressman John Mica, he's the chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee and co-author of the Aviation Safety Law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN MICA (R), FLORIDA: I would assume that there would have been a sky marshal on that. Most of our international flights with an American carrier in the past have had -- and even the present -- have had sky marshals, but the passengers were the real heroes here. That sky marshal's job was more than likely to protect the cockpit and the pilot from keeping plane coming down that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: The congressman also said that he's trying to figure out and confirm whether there was a sky marshal on the plane, but none of the passengers said anybody except themselves and the flight attendants actually tackled this man. Congressman Mica says the government is trying to implement new aviation security measures as soon as possible that might involve some new technology.

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