I have heard two different stories about the plane incident. The first was that they intentionally allowed him to board as they wanted to see who he was meeting up with. (I struggle with believing this as apparantly the plane had actually pulled away and was turned around). The second was that they already had him in custody, he never actually boarded the plane, and it was turned around so they could talk to two other people on board.
Apparantly he was on the "no fly" list hours before he attempted to leave the country. I suspect someone did drop the ball here and not realize it until it was almost too late.
As for passing security checks, they can't find any affiliation with any terrorist groups. In fact, his father is Pakistani military and well regarded. If there are no red flags I don't think there is much they can do. Either he applied for citizenship to be a part of terrorist activities from the inside, or, the more likely scenario, he was targeted by terrorist groups and converted afterwards. Either way, very scary situation.
I wonder how he managed to pass all the Security checks to become a US citizen in 2009 ......?
"Shahzad was on board a Dubai-bound flight that was taxiing away from the gate at Kennedy Airport late Monday when the plane was turned around and federal authorities took him into custody, law enforcement officials said. Federal officials had placed him on a "no-fly" list hours before his arrest."
He shouldn't have been allowed to board the plane. Luckily they apprehended him before the plane left the ground but someone still needs to get their a-ss chewed out big time. We're at war with these SOB's and it will be interesting to see who was responsible for letting him pass through security.
For real! This is being handled in a very timely manner. They are restoring my faith. This is the way it should work.
I have to say I am impressed by how quickly they are picking all these guys up. I mean, this incident only happened on Sat.
Probably due to Obama's hyper-vigilant anti-terrorist policy.
Mike