The man who allegedly tried to break into the cockpit of a Hawaii-bound flight had been arrested and then released from custody at before boarding the plane at Los Angles International Airport Friday.
Anil Uskanil, 25, was spotted walking through a door leading out of the airport terminal and out onto the airfield ramp around 2:45 a.m. Friday, the LAX Airport Police Division told The Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. Police officers spotted and detained Uskanil, who had gone through TSA screening and was a ticketed passenger of an American Airlines flight. “Airport police investigated and determined Uskanil had been drinking but did not meet the criteria for drunk in public,” the statement said. “A Police K-9 searched and cleared the area.”
Uskanil was then allowed to board his flight, after he was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor trespassing, given a court date and released from police custody. Once on board the flight, Uskanil’s behavior caused concern for the flight attendants. Two passengers who were in first class said they discovered a laptop in their seat pockets, the Washington Post reports. A flight attendant said the laptop might belong to Uskanil, who was in the plane bathroom at the time.
When Uskanil returned, the passengers gave him the laptop and a flight attendant escorted him back to his seat. Later in the flight, Uskanil, wearing a towel of blanket over his head and carrying the laptop, tried to get back into first class, but a flight attendant blocked his way with a serving cart.
Law enforcement officials initially told Hawaii News Now that the suspect had tried to enter the cockpit.
An off-duty police officer subdued the suspect, and U.S. Pacific Command sent two F-22 Raptors to intercept and escort the plane to Honolulu.
Uskanil was taken into custody by the FBI and local law enforcement when the plane landed in Hawaii.
EXCLUSIVE: Suspect accused of trying to breach cockpit door on plane from LAX to Honolulu in sheriff’s car. https://t.co/aQjEuagqXc pic.twitter.com/VvjlrlNzsE
— Lynn Kawano (@LynnKawano) May 19, 2017
DCNF reporter Ethan Barton was on the flight and said one passenger described the suspect as “mental,” and an FBI agent believed the man to be “a Turkish person.” (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE DETAILS: Fighter Jets Escort American Plane After Someone Tried To Break Into Cockpit)
The Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly reportedly told lawmakers Friday that the ban on laptops and other electronics on Middle Eastern flights could be extended to the U.S. as well as Europe, CNN reports.
Officials are concerned that ISIS has developed a new generation of explosives that can be concealed in laptop batteries that would not be detected by standard TSA screenings.
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