A US Airways flight en route to Paris from North Carolina, landed in Bangor, Maine, after a passenger claimed to have a device implanted in her body. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
By Rebecca Ruiz
US Airways flight 787, en route from Paris to the U.S., was diverted Tuesday afternoon when a passenger began behaving suspiciously.
House Homeland Security Committee chairman Peter King (R-N.Y.) told NBC News' Luke Russert that the female passenger was a French citizen from Cameroon who had not checked bags on the flight.
The passenger reportedly passed a note to a flight attendant saying she had an explosive device surgically implanted in her. Passengers then held the passenger down and two doctors summoned by the pilot checked her for scars.
Officials say they're now satisfied that the passenger did not present a threat. The Transportation Security Administration said in a statement that it was "aware of reports of a passenger who exhibited suspicious behavior during flight" and that the passenger was being interviewed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, according to the Associated Press.
The FBI and Homeland Security Department warned airlines last summer that terrorists are considering surgically hiding bombs inside humans to evade airport security.
The airline, in a statement, said the flight's Boeing 767 aircraft was carrying 179 passengers and nine crew members that landed without incident around noon U.S. Eastern time, according to the Associated Press.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said it had scrambled two F-15 fighter jets in response to the incident but gave no further details.
With the passenger in custody of law enforcement, the Boeing 767 was cleared several hours later to continue to its final destination in Charlotte, N.C.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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