Explosives Detonate As Plane Unloaded At MIA
MIAMI (CBS4) - Miami-Dade Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have arrested a 37-year-old man for carrying a type of explosive that set off alarms at Miami International Airport Tuesday.
The bags were being unloaded at Gate D-17 from American Airlines flight 2585 from Boston when the explosion occurred. Officials say the man who was bound for Jamaica had hundreds of blasting caps in his luggage and when one cap ignited others followed.
"It's a small metal cap if you will, and there is some type of explosive type of material that make the bullet go forward, fire and there was a bag of those and once one went off they all went off," said FBI Special Agent Michael Leverock.
Later in the afternoon, Chopper 4 found all of the bags were unloaded from the plane onto the runway and were being checked individually by the FBI and TSA officials.
American Airlines said an incident had happened with the flight, but that all 148 people on board were okay. Initial reports indicated that the explosion had occurred due to an aerosol spray, but it was later determined that they were blasting caps.
"We were on the flight and we got off the flight and they told us that there was a problem with the bag," said passenger Joe LaRosa. "They really didn't give us a lot of information when this all happened, unfortunately. We were lucky because we were headed down to the keys so we hung around here for a little while before we headed out, because we were never going to get our bags today."
The FBI has taken over the case and is investigating the incident and the baggage at MIA.
Leverock said the owner of the bag will be charged with charges related to Title 18, USC Section 922 E, Traveling in Interstate Commerce without a license to carry ammunition
The man whose name was not immediately released was transported to a federal detention center.
