Planes-alert student charged
A college student who allegedly hid box cutters and other banned items on four American airliners to expose weaknesses in US security has been charged with a federal crime.
An FBI affidavit said the banned items were not discovered on two of the planes until a month after the student had alerted authorities about his scheme, via e-mail
Nathaniel Heatwole, 20, charged with taking a dangerous weapon aboard an aircraft, was released without bail for a preliminary hearing on November 10. If convicted, he could face 10 years in prison.
On September 15, US government authorities received an e-mail from Heatwole saying he had “information regarding six security breaches” at the airports in Raleigh-Durham in North Carolina and Baltimore in Maryland between February 7 and September 14, according to the FBI affidavit obtained by The Associated Press.
Objects aboard Southwest Airlines planes that landed in New Orleans and Houston were not found until Thursday.
According to authorities, Heatwole told federal agents he went through normal security procedures at airports in Baltimore and Raleigh-Durham. Once aboard, he said, he hid the banned items in compartments in the planes’ rear lavatories.
