LAX to London Flight Stormed, 8 Detained

Information from sources that i cannot cite but are known to be highly credible have informed me that a flight taking off from Los Angeles International airport early today was stopped as passengers were being boarded.

The plane was stopped shortly after boarding ended and was immediately stormed by heavily armed FBI troops with several other agencies in close attendance. 8 men of Arab appearance were hustled to the ground at gun point and quickly hauled into a marked FBI van quietly escorted by a motorcade of uniformed and uniformed officers.. The plane was instructed to turn back whilst passengers were disembarked.

The passengers were "debriefed" by a Dept Of Homeland Secutiy liason who was quick to answer all questions with "it was just a training exercise". With full apologies and few answers the passengers were all given seats in first class with their national flag carriers courtesy of the Government.

How do i know about this? One of my friends was on board.

[edit on 4-8-2004 by Nerdling]

[edit on 4-8-2004 by Nerdling]

[edit on 8-4-2004 by Valhall]

[edit on 8-4-2004 by Valhall]

[edit on 8-4-2004 by Valhall]

A training exercise when the DoHS has told of credible threats??? This is not something that should be staged at this time. Why not fly a plane into something to see how First Response teams react. I'm not trying to be disrepectful to anyone, but this is just plain old WRONG...

It would be very interesting to see more info on this. On one hand, I don't really expect them to say "you all were about to end up as a smear on the side of a building", so the training excuse makes sense. On the other hand, unless A. it was training or B. there were other, related busts to make, it should have been heavily televised as a victory of DoHS almost immediately.

can anyone confirm this story ? It seems unlikely that there has been no publicity about it if it really did occur

I find it hard to believe that a "training exercise" would take place on a real flight. There is no way this would happen. It was either an actual take down or someone is yanking your chain.

I don't believe the DHS explaination of a "training exercise". I am more inclined to believe it was a take down. But in order to keep the public calm they played it off. DHS has long waited a while after any significant event to publicise it. I believe this is done to retain operational integrety. You don't want their compatriots to know they were taken down until you find out who they are.

It sounds odd that the aircraft would be instructed to turn back if it was just a training exercise. I'd have thought the airline would have objections to that. Why not debrief the passengers on the plane in transit?

ok, so let's say this really was training...

that means the DHS planted arab/arab-looking men on the plane to be captured, for the training.

if your friend was on the flight, he should call cnn and alert them to the story.

I'm not believing any of these rumors until they are verified. For something like this to happen and not receive any press coverage is pretty strange.

The disappearing plane, the pipe bomb etc. all nonsense.

Doesn't sound like a training exercise to me either. Think of the impact of the delayed flight alone. Another good point is if it were a training exercise it would have been all over the news bosting the success of the operation for sure. I would like to find out more on the this matter, would be interesting.

Do you know which airline your friend was on -- I know if I were on that and they said it was a drill they would owe me more than a drink to calm my nerves --

It is surprising that it wasn't on the news but maybe everyone thought that someone else would do it so they didn't?