United Airlines (Chicago) last night had an incident at its Denver (DEN) hub. A Qatari diplomat on a United flight from Washington (Dulles) to Denver caused a security alert after he was apparently caught smoking in the rest room and made a remark that was perceived as a threat.
Qatar’s ambassador to Washington called Wednesday’s incident a “mistake” said the man was a diplomat traveling on official business. U.S. officials said the man was in custody and the incident did not appear to be serious according to this Reuters report.
Coming just months after the failed “underwear” bomb attempt on Christmas Day, the scare prompted security officials to scramble two Air Force F-16 fighter jets to intercept the Boeing 757-200 aircraft and escort it to Denver International Airport where it landed at about 9 p.m. EDT (2100).
Read the full report from Reuters: