`Suspicious activity' prompts authorities to turn US Airways flight around

PHILADELPHIA - Passengers were pulled from a Florida-bound US Airways flight after they aroused suspicion among federal authorities, who ordered the plane to return to Philadelphia, the FBI said. <br> <br> The FBI said the passengers were engaged &#34;suspicious activity,&#34; but did not elaborate. They were taken off the flight Sunday without incident and questioned by the FBI, spokeswoman Linda Vizi said. Bomb-sniffing dogs found no explosives, she said. <br> <br> &#34;Certain individuals on that plane were engaged in a pattern of suspicious activity,&#34; said Vizi. <br> <br> Federal air marshals contacted the FBI about the passengers, Vizi said, and federal authorities in Washington, D.C., decided to make US Airways Flight 335 return to Philadelphia. <br> <br> The plane carrying 134 passengers landed in Philadelphia at 7:05 p.m., less than an hour after takeoff. <br> <br> &#34;We landed and we&#39;re sitting around almost two hours. Finally, they said the FBI&#39;s coming on the plane and that&#39;s when the wave of emotion hits everyone,&#34; passenger Jack Clark told KYW-TV. <br> <br> Passengers said four or five people had been acting suspiciously. Clark said a man sitting next to him was among those taken off the plane. <br> <br> &#34;He looked very suspicious. He was talking, but not to anyone in particular. He kept talking down into his chest,&#34; said Clark, of Blue Bell, Pa. <br> <br> The remaining passengers on the flight went through security screening a second time and were sent to Orlando. The passengers whose actions were deemed suspicious had not been charged as of early Monday, Vizi said. <br> <br> No other flights were delayed, airport spokesman Mark Pesce said. <br> <br> An airline representative referred questions to the FBI. <br> <br>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/4/202346