Dynamite found in US plane luggage

New York: A college student was arrested at the Houston airport for allegedly carrying half a stick of dynamite and other bomb-making material in his checked luggage and a plane coming from the UK diverted following an alert in two of seven security-related incidents leading to questioning of passengers and search of US flights.

The 21-year old student, an American citizen identified as Howard McFarland Fish on board a Continental flight from Argentina, was found to be carrying in his checked luggage prohibited material during a routine check at Houston's Bush International Airport but officials said terrorism was not involved.

He is expected to appear before a Federal Court on Monday and could get up to ten years in prison if convicted. The prosecutors are yet to decide whether to prosecute him and on what charges.

Officials quoted Fish as saying that he had been exploring mines in Bolivia and had purchased dynamite as a souvenir.

He was also allegedly carrying a blasting cap, a home make fuse and a quarter pound of ammonium nitrate.

Fish was in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday and was being questioned by it.

In another incident, an American Airlines flight from Manchester in England to Chicago was diverted to Bangor airport in Maine and officials said they learnt of the threat only after the plane was in the air but did not elaborate.

The passengers deplaned and were questioned by FBI. Also, a US Airlines' Phoenix, Arizona, to Charlotte, North Carolina flight was diverted to Oklahoma city after a passenger reportedly became disruptive following which he was undergoing psychiatric evaluation.

Besides, four more security-related incidents were reported underlining the tense situation resulting from the foiled terror plot in the UK.

These included screening and questioning of passengers of a Continental Airlines flight from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Bakersfield, California in El Paso after discovery of a missing panel in the lavatory and evacuation of an Aer Lingus flight from New York to Dublin during a stopover in western Ireland following a bomb threat that turned out to be false.

A utility knife was found on a vacant passenger seat of a US Airways flight that had travelled from Philadelphia to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut but no arrests were made.

A United Airlines flight out of Chicago's O'Haren International Airport was delayed because a small boy reportedly said something inappropriate.