Physician blogger Dr. Bob says one of his patients, a federal air marshal, told him about a foiled hijacking involving boxcutters hidden in overhead luggage bins:

He and his partner were assigned to a flight (the airline, airport, and destination were not disclosed) in their customary undercover security role. They boarded the airplane early in order to meet the flight attendants, at which time the cleaning crew was still on the airplane — somewhat longer than expected. My patient and his partner sat together in seats near the middle of coach class.

The passengers began to board, and he and his partner noticed a single Middle Eastern man sitting near the front of first class. After a number of passengers had boarded, two Middle Eastern men walked by this man and made eye contact, but said nothing. They sat down together in the front of coach class. Shortly thereafter, two other Middle Eastern men also walked by the man in first class and made eye contact without speaking. They sat near the back of coach class.

Shortly after the flight attendants completed their post-boarding check of the overhead bins, an announcement came from the cockpit: the pilot stated that there had been a security breach, and everyone needed to deboard the plane for a second, more thorough, security screening. The Air Marshall and his partner were confused, as they had not triggered the security alert nor been notified of it prior to the announcement.

After all the passengers had deplaned, the Federal Air Marshalls checked with the flight attendants for more information. During a final check of the overhead bins, a flight attendant had noticed that one of the blankets was slightly unfolded, and he repositioned it in the bin. At this time, a razor blade fell out of the blanket. Concerned, but still believing this might be a straightforward mistake, the flight attendant began to check other overhead bins. Several additional incompletely folded blankets were noted, and hidden in each one was a box cutter: a total of five. It appeared that these had been placed there by the cleaning crew prior to the boarding of the airplane.

After the repeat security screening, the passengers reboarded — all except the five Middle Eastern men, who were nowhere to be found. The flight proceeded to its destination uneventfully.

It’s hard to imagine, in a post-9/11 world, that terrorists would attempt another attack with box cutters. Also, Dr. Bob’s patient did not disclose specifics–airport, airline, destination, etc.–that would facilitate confirmation. If anyone can provide more information, drop me a line.

Whether or not the story is true, it highlights at least two important policy questions:

1. What kind of security measures are being undertaken with regard to clean-up crews and other ground personnel with access to airplanes?

2. Why does FAMS director Tom Quinn continue to enforce idiotic pre-boarding policies that expose marshals’ identities to observant passengers?

Update: The idea that terrorist operatives might be trying to smuggle razor blades as weapons onto planes is not pure fantasy. Last April, Pakistani illegal alien Fazal Karim was convicted on charges of carrying and attempting to carry concealed dangerous weapons in air transportation and of making false statements about his immigration status. Security officials at Dallas/Ft. Worth airport found 32 double-edged razor blades tucked in a coiled belt inside a cardboard box in Fazal Karim’s carry-on luggage.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Schattman argued that Karim carried out a test run to aid terrorism. The Ft. Worth Star Telegram reported that security officers first noticed that Karim appeared to distance himself from his carry-on bag. After placing the bag on the conveyor belt leading to an X-ray machine, Karim did not walk through the adjacent magnetometer but selected one farther away. He offered FBI agents three different explanations for the blades, Schattman said. First, Karim said he used the blades to shave the bottom of his full beard. Then he said they were for a friend in Houston. Finally, he said he did not know the blades were in the bag. More:

At a hearing in November, a federal agent testified that the names and phone numbers of the current directors of the civil aviation systems in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates were found in Karim’s address book _ 10 years after he worked as a computer programmer for the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority.

“It was indicative of his familiarity with air transportation security systems,” Schattman said. “We believe he was testing security measures.”

In addition, I’ve found at least one other mention of a flight crew member discovering razor blades in blankets.

Weird. Scary weird.

Update II: Reader Eric makes some additional, on-target points…

For me at least, there is another lesson in this story.

You will note that the breach in security was discovered by responsible, observant individual citizens, not the government officials who were there at the time.

We have seen this time and again, with the passengers on the plane that crashed in PA, the cabin attendant who spotted the terrorist with a bomb in his shoe, and on and on.

I believe that true security rests in the individual vigilance of a proud and free people who are not dependent on a nanny state to look out for their welfare or safety. I hope you agree.

Arm the pilots, arm the cabin crew, arm law-abiding citizens. I will be the first in line to buy tickets on such an airline.

Update III: Several air marshals write to say that the story told by Dr. Bob’s patient sounds true. Here’s an excerpt from one e-mail I received:

I am a FAM (Federal Air Marshal) and wanted to respond to your
Jan. 14th article about a foiled hijacking…. Except for a few minor details the Jan. 14th article you wrote is mostly correct. We have seen this scenario happen a few times and have also found razor blades on the plane before passengers have boarded.

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