Last night, feds forced down a plane of suspected illegal aliens south of San Antonio who they say were illegally flying in American airspace. The suspected were reportedly Chinese. This detail caught my eye:

Online records of the Federal Aviation Administration show that the 20-year-old plane is co-owned by Afzal Hameed of Dover, Del. The other co-owner is listed as Alyce S. Taylor, but no address is given for her.

The FAA records state that the plane’s last three-year registration was filed in 1999, and that the agency received no response in 2002 after mailing new registration forms to Hameed.

Hmmm. The obvious question is whether there is a Boston connection here; newspaper reports about the mystery plane have all mentioned last week’s terror scare. Another issue below the surface is what the FAA has done to scrutinize plane registrations since Sept. 11. How many smugglers or terrorists may be operating right under the feds’ nose?