‘You’re All Going to Die…Allahu Akbar’: Man’s Rant Leads to Emergency Landing

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Jonathon M. Seidl

[There is a video clip from local news channel here]

AMARILLO, Texas (The Blaze/AP) — A man was arrested Tuesday after his unruly behavior aboard a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Kansas City compelled the flight crew to make an emergency landing in Texas.

Ali Reza Shahsavari, 29, of Indialantic, Fla., is escorted by Amarillo Police and FBI officers after causing a disturbance on a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Kansas City Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011, in Amarillo, Texas. Shahsavari has been charged with interfering with a flight crew, said Patrick Rhodes, Amarillo’s aviation director. (AP Photo/The Amarillo Globe News, Michael Schumacher)

Ali Reza Shahsavari, 29, of Indialantic, Fla., has been charged with interfering with a flight crew, said Patrick Rhodes, Amarillo’s aviation director. He was booked into the Randall County Jail in Canyon, where he awaited an appearance before a magistrate.

Flight 3683 landed without incident and the man was taken into custody for questioning by federal officials. None of the 136 passengers and five crew members was injured, and the aircraft resumed its flight after a security sweep, said Brad Hawkins, spokesman for the Dallas-based airline.

The Amarillo Globe-News reports on what the Associated Press won’t, mainly what Shahsavari shouted:

“You’re all going to die,” a man dressed in black screamed at passengers Tuesday afternoon. “You’re all going to hell. Allahu Akbar,” translated as God is great in Arabic.

Initially, authorities said the man had tried to break into the cockpit but Amarillo Aviation Director Patrick Rhodes later said he was “not trying to break into the cockpit, but was unruly and had confronted the cabin crew.”

Passenger Doug Oerding told the Amarillo Globe-News that Shahsavari started screaming obscenities at other passengers during the flight. Attendants attempted to calm Shahsavari and then he went to the bathroom at back of plane and started making a commotion, Oerding said.

“All of us guys were looking at him like are we going to have to do something,” Oerding said.

He said a flight attendant got Shahsavari to calm down. The flight landed and police officers came onto the plane and took him into custody, Oerding said.

Father Mohammad Shahsavari confirmed the suspect was his son and that he understood his son was well, but he did not know what led to the incident.

“I don’t know what to say,” he told The Associated Press from his Indialantic, Fla., home.

The FBI said initial indications were that the incident did not appear to be terrorism related. The passenger’s identity was not immediately released.

“The FBI continues to investigate, but initial indications are that there was no terrorist intent. This guy is a U.S. citizen,” said FBI Special Agent Mark White in Dallas.

Posted on 19 Oct 11 by theBlaze

Plot Foiled? 5 Moroccan Muslims Caught Sneaking Inside TX Courthouse at 2 A.M.

Bexar County Courthouse

What were three French-Moroccan Muslims in their twenties doing with photos of infrastructure and high tech camera equipment inside the Bexar County Courthouse in San Antonio at almost 2 o’clock this morning?

Nobody has given any good answers yet, and concerns about a possible terrorism plot remain high.

(Related: Emergency landing after man shouts “You’re all going to die“ and ”Allahu Akbar” on Southwest Flight)

Officers of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Department of Homeland security have the three suspicious individuals in custody and are trying to find out if a terrorism-related plot was disrupted. The men apparently entered the building by sneaking through a window.

The men appeared to have entered the country on legal visas from Heathrow airport and had traveled extensively throughout the U.S. According to WOIA radio, officials say the men had “photographs of infrastructure” including photos of shopping malls, water systems, courthouses and other public buildings which they say were taken in cities nationwide.”

In response to the possible threat early this morning, police cordoned off two square blocks of downtown San Antonio and bomb-sniffing dogs were deployed throughout the courthouse. After a couple of hours, police reopened the streets as no danger was detected.

[There is a local news channel report here]

Investigators are keeping the case close-hold, but one law enforcement officer reportedly said of the three Muslim men that “the fact why they can’t explain why they are in the building at 1:22 in the morning raises questions.”

It remained unclear if a military intelligence convention a few blocks away that was set to have high level speakers, including White House personnel, was in any way related.

UPDATE:

KSAT-TV reports that five men have been detained in relation to the break-in and that they are not cooperating with police. Two of the men are apparently on the FBI’s watch list and they came into the country on 9/11:

The men, who are in their 20s, were detained after sheriff’s officials determined they broke into the building through a door on the fourth floor, sheriff’s officials said. Three men were located inside the building and two were found outside near a recreational vehicle.

Surveillance video showed the men walking into the building with an item in their hands, but they did not have the item when they walked out of the courthouse, sheriff’s officials said. Investigators have not said whether that item was recovered or what it may be.

The RV contained several documents and proof the men had been traveling across the country for some time, sheriff’s officials said.

Sources told ABC News that three of the men appear to be of Moroccan descent and that the men had pictures of courthouses and water systems from around the country.

UPDATE II:

The local judge says the scare may have just been a drunken “prank.” Read our follow-up story about the latest developments here.

Posted on 19 Oct 11 by the Blaze

SAUDI ‘MUSLIM’ MAN arrested at JFK with a cache of weapons in his luggage

Posted: September 25, 2011 | Author: barenakedislam

A Saudi Arabian man was busted at JFK Airport after the Transportation Security Administration spotted a stun gun and four other weapons in his checked bag on a flight bound for Riyadh.

NY POST  (H/T True Grit) Mohamed Hefni, 54, was arrested in a first-class lounge at JFK at 4 p.m. Thursday after agents found the contraband in his luggage before he could board his Saudi Airlines flight to Riyadh, authorities said. Hefni, told officials he was taking them home to Saudi Arabia to protect his family. (Sure, he was)

After TSA agents first noticed the gun’s outline during a routine screening, they opened Hefni’s package. Inside they discovered a fully operable battery-powered electric stun gun, three electric stun batons, an electric stun pen, and a large can of pepper spray, authorities told the New York Post.

Hefni’s lives in New York City and was arrested by Port Authority cops on misdemeanor weapons charges. The New York Times reports that Hefni was released Friday evening without bail, and a TSA spokeswomen told the Times that “We do not believe this was related to terrorism.” (No, of course it wasn’t related to terrorism. Why would we ever suspect a Saudi Muslim carrying weapons onto a plane to be a terrorist?)

Hefni told the police he had bought the weapons “for his protection,” according to court papers, and NY1 reports that the man told TSA agents the weapons were to protect his family in Saudi Arabia. Hefni was charged with five misdemeanor counts of illegal weapons possession, each of which carries a penalty of up to a year in prison.

Posted on 25 Sep 11 by BNI