U.S. special forces have been put on alert as a result of the suspicious conduct of a 30-year-old Nigerian passenger onboard a Delta Airlines plane, the Fox News channel has reported.
The incident, which "turned out to be nothing serious," took place on the same Amsterdam-Detroit flight, which was subject to a failed bomb attack, carried out by another Nigerian man on Christmas Day. There were 256 people on board that plane.
"A passenger on today's Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit spent an unusually long time in the aircraft lavatory. Due to this unusual behavior, the airline notified TSA and the agency directed the flight to taxi to a remote area upon landing to be met by law enforcement and DHS," the channel quoted a statement by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as saying.
The suspicious passenger boarded a plane in Lagos, Nigeria, with no baggage, and locked himself in a toilet for an hour. He was removed from the flight and interviewed by the FBI.
It turned out that the detainee was a businessman who fell ill during the flight.
"Though this does not appear at this time to be a security incident, in an abundance of caution, the aircraft was fully screened, with negative results, and all baggage is being rescreened before the aircraft taxis to the gate," the statement said.
U.S. President Barack Obama, who is now on vacation in Hawaii, has ordered a complete review of the air transportation security control system following Friday's incident on the same flight.
A 23-year-old Nigerian national, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a passenger on board an A330 passenger jet bound from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day, tried to blow up the plane that was carrying some 300 people. He was detained and has charged with attempted terrorist attack.
The president will hold an emergency meeting on aviation security issues soon.
WASHINGTON, December 28 (RIA Novosti)
