According to METRO DETROIT LOCAL NEWS & TALK (Mlive.com), Commenter says he was aboard NWA Flight 253, saw suspected terrorist board the plane.
Kurt Haskell, who commented under the name, Pug, reported:
FBI also arrested a different Indian man while we were held in customs after a bomb sniffing dog detected a bomb in his carry on bag and he was searched after we landed. This was later confirmed while we were in customs when an FBI agent said to us "You are being moved to another area because this area is not safe. Read between the lines. Some of you saw what just happened."(The arrest of the other Indian man). I am not sure why this hasn't made it into any news story, but I stood about 15-20 feet away from the other Indian man when he was cuffed and arrested after his search.
Today Mlive.com, which is the best source for breaking news on the lap bomber story, MIA in the MSM, reported Second person was detained by U.S. Customs after alleged attack on Flight 253.
More information to follow the fold.
The Mlive.com report by Sheena Harrison said that there were three passengers who saw the man escorted away.
1.
Kurt Haskell, a Taylor, Mich., attorney who says he was seated a few rows behind suspected terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, told MLive.com on Saturday that he saw a second man taken into custody after search dogs appeared to find something in his carry-on bag.
[snip]
Haskell clarified the man may not have been arrested, but he reiterated the person -- who he described as being about 30 years old -- was taken away in handcuffs
2.
Daniel Huisinga of Fairview, Tenn., who was returning from an internship in Kenya for the holidays, says he also saw a man being taken away in handcuffs at the airport after a dog search.
[snip]
In a phone interview Tuesday morning, Huisinga told MLive.com that search dogs were brought into Detroit Metro about an hour after the Flight 253 passengers entered the airport. While the dogs sniffed multiple bags, Huisinga said one dog sat down in front of a bag carried by a middle-aged man who was wearing a nice suit.
[snip]
Huisinga said the man with the suspicious bag was questioned by agents, who looked through his luggage. The agents left, then approached the man a second time before placing him in handcuffs and leading him away, said Huisinga, who estimates he was about 20 feet away from the scene.
3.
A third person, Roey Rosenblith, told The Huffington Post on Sunday that he saw a man in a suit being placed into handcuffs and escorted out, as well.
[snip]
The only thing that I recall happening is seeing an Indian guy off to the side, an older gentleman wearing a gray suit leaning against the wall. Suddenly there was a police officer next to him pulling his arms back and pulling handcuffs on him. The man didn't struggle, the bags which seemed to be his were left there, and he and the police officer disappeared around the corner.
Roey Rosenblith's Huffpo story, Over Detroit Skies, is well worth reading. He is working to bring renewable energy to Africa's poor and is definitely a DailyKos sort of guy. I wish he would diary this piece here. It is Rec worthy, for sure.
Yesterday I wrote a diary, Update 4: Passenger witnessed man ask ticket agent to let terrorist suspect board w/out passport, detailing the account of Kurt Haskell and his wife, who saw a well dressed Indian looking man with the alleged lap bomber at the airport in Amsterdam asking a ticket agent whether the suspect could board without a passport.
Whether or not Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was in possession of a passport does not disprove Mr. Haskell's testimony that a well dressed Indian looking man attempted to usher the alleged lab bomber on board without one.
There are now 3 witnesses that corroborate Haskell's further testimony that another Indian looking man was led away in handcuffs after a dog responded to a scent in his bag. They were told to move to a "safer" area by authorities.
Mr. Haskell and Jasper Schuringa, the hero who leapt from his seat and subdued the would be bomber and helped to put out the fire with his hand, both described Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as being quiet. In the NY Daily News article, Jasper Schuringa, Dutchman who subdued Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Flight 253, recalls moment:
Schuringa said that throughout the terrifying plane ordeal, Abdulmutallab appeared to be "in a trance."
"He was staring into nothing," Schuringa said. "The whole plane was screaming, but the suspect, he didn't say a word."
Look at this video interview of Jasper Schuringa at 5:55 when he described Umar as quiet, in a trance, not struggling, and acting afraid when he subdued him and afterward. Schuringa then said he really didn't want to talk about that.
At 1:40 in this video, Daniel Huisinga recounted that one of the strangest things about the whole experience was that the alleged terrorist did not scream or react, even though he was put in a headlock and was badly burned. Umar just had a blank stare in the face of the evil he had allegedly attempted against all of the passengers.
At 2:45, Huisinga said that a middle eastern man possibly in his late 30s was led away in handcuffs at the Detroit airport and that the passengers were asked to move to a hallway, because a security threat was found in his bag.
It is odd that someone who wanted to bomb a plane, which takes some doing, would be in a trancelike state and not fight off Schuringa to bring to fruition the plan for which he was willing to die.
If an Indian looking man escorted the silent Abdulmutallab to the ticket agent in Amsterdam and spoke for him to be let on board without presenting his passport, claiming that he was from Sudan, a country that started issuing electronic passports in May 2009, it could be explained that in order for this plan to work without a hitch, the bombing suspect needed to board anonymously, since his father had previously alerted authorities about his son's recent extremist leanings.
If another (or the same) Indian looking man's bag was sniffed out to have traces of the chemical in it (why would they be sniffing for drugs or anything else?), it is suspicious, because Umar's bizarre mental state may well have required him to need assistance both to board the plane in his trancelike state and assemble the bomb once on board. It appears from several accounts that he may not have been in any condition to do this alone.