Incident on UA flight involving Qatari raises security fears

An incident involving a Qatari diplomat, on board a flight from Washington to Denver late Wednesday sparked security fears and fuelled suspicion he was trying to detonate a shoe bomb, US media reported.
 
Whether the passenger was joking or anything had actually been set on fire remained, however, remained unclear and there were no reports of an explosion on the plane.
 
The FBI was conducting investigations into whether, Mohammed al-Modadi, the Qatari diplomat, tried to set anything on fire even as NBC news reported bomb-sniffing dogs had found no traces of explosives on the aircraft.
 
According to NBC, half an hour before the United Airlines flight was due to land in Denver with 157 passengers aboard along with six crew members, an air marshal smelled smoke and on suspicion confronted Al-Modadi who had spent an extended period of time in the bathroom. The marshal claimed Modadi was trying to set his shoes on fire.

As third secretary and vice-consul of the Qatari embassy in Washington, Al-Modadi enjoys full diplomatic immunity in Washington.

Modadi was placed under custody, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

The flight later landed safely in Denver escorted by two F-16 fighter jets that had been scrambled to intercept the aircraft under the authority of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD).

TSA said "all steps are being taken to ensure the safety of the travelling public."

The incident comes a week following the unveiling of new security measures that require all US-bound plane passengers to be screened using real-time intelligence to target potential threats, replacing the mandatory screening of passengers from a list of mainly Muslim countries that had caused resentment in certain quarters.